How Nick Aldis Brought AJ Styles’ TNA Career to a Horrible End

There have been many legends who have performed in TNA over the last two decades plus, but ask fans to name the first who comes to mind and more often than not it’s going to be AJ Styles. Long before the Phenomenal One had a decade-long run in WWE, where he ended his career and became a Hall of Famer, Styles was the face of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. There, he won multiple titles and influenced countless wrestlers. In 2013, however, Styles was ready to leave TNA behind. There to usher him out was another TNA titleholder, Magnus, who you now know under his real name of Nick Aldis.

AJ Styles Left TNA Over a Contract Dispute

• Styles was briefly on the WCW roster in the company’s last days.
• He was the first ever X Division Champion in TNA.
• AJ decided to leave TNA when he was asked to take a pay cut.

After a very short stint in WCW, as the company was coming to an end, followed by a few appearances in WWE, AJ Styles signed with TNA. During the dozen years he was with the promotion created by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, Styles worked as both a babyface and a heel. With his youth, he was the perfect counterweight to the plethora of older stars the promotion was constantly bringing in. When all was said and done, Styles won multiple world championships, along with tag titles, and became the first ever X Division titleholder.

In December 2013, it all came to an end. Last year, Styles told Chris Van Vliet why he chose to say goodbye to the house that AJ Styles built.

“They hired Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and I believe Eric was trying to do the right thing to see where we’re at as far as getting people–more eyes on us, that we’re growing, and unfortunately it didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. We lost a lot of money…

“They expected me to take a pay cut.They didn’t say the dates are not going to be as many, they didn’t say that either…Same amount of travel and everything, and so it was one of those things I was like ‘man this ain’t right.’ On principle alone, I can’t be here anymore.” (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

Nick Aldis’ Magnus Characer Beat AJ Styles in a Title Unification Match

• Magnus vs AJ Styles happened on a January 2014 episode of Impact.
• Sting couldn’t help save Styles from multiple heel attacks.
• Dixie Carter forced the referee to count the pinfall.

Just how do you end the run of a wrestling promotion’s most important name? In mid 2010s TNA, which was falling apart under the weight of horrible ratings and even worse booking, AJ Styles’ TNA career was brought to an embarrassing and hard-to-watch conclusion. Rather than having him go out on top, or at the very least respected, he was humiliated.

Late in 2013, Styles was the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, before vacating it over his contract issues, a storyline which blurred fiction and reality. Months later, he returned for one last match. Now, Nick Aldis’ Magnum character was the champion. With Styles still carrying the belt he’d walked out with, TNA had a match on Impact in January 2014 to unify the titles.

What fans got was nothing special. Their showdown barely lasted 10 minutes. It ended in a complete mess. The match had no rules, so fans could see how this one was going to go. Not only did Styles have to deal with Magnus, but he had to battle a group of other heels, including EC3, DJ Zima, and the Bromance. Every time it looked like we’d get just Aldis vs. Styles, more bad guys would come out. “This is ridiculous,” commentator Mike Tenay said at one point. It definitely was. The sparse crowd was mostly silent, and even the arrival of Sting to save Styles couldn’t help. The two faced off with Kazarian and Christopher Daniels as if it had suddenly turned into a tag team match. Adding to the chaos, the ref was taken out and Bobby Roode laid out Styles. Fans cheered for Kurt Angle, to no avail. Finally, to bring this mess to a close, the easy-to-hate Dixie Carter came out with another referee and demanded he count the pinfall when Magnus hooked the leg of an unconscious Styles. What an awful way to end Styles’ TNA career.

Nick Aldis Isn’t a Fan of the Match That Ended AJ Styles’ TNA Run

• Styles left TNA for Ring of Honor, where he joined the Bullet Club.
• He won multiple world titles in WWE and retired the Undertaker.
• Aldis thinks his last match with Styles was horribly booked and did his career no favors.

Despite that humiliation, AJ Styles would be just fine. What Dixie Carter cooked up would not define him. Instead, he rose above it and became even more of an icon outside TNA. He soon after joined Ring of Honor when the company was very hot and became part of the Bullet Club. At the time, you couldn’t get any cooler. Then, in 2016, he made his huge WWE debut at the Royal Rumble. Later, he was beating John Cena for world titles, and was the Undertaker’s last ever opponent.

Nick Aldis, while no AJ Styles, had a good wrestling career himself. He had several stints with TNA, held the NWA Worlds Championship for over 1,000 days, and now he’s the very popular General Manager of WWE SmackDown. Still, no matter how much he’s accomplished, Aldis is no fan of his match with the Phenomenal One. Ahead of his impressive return to the ring against Gunther at SummerSlam 2026, he sat down with Chris Van Vliet, where the topic of ending AJ Styles’ TNA career came up. The man now so well known for his baby blue suits didn’t hold back.

“It’s a dubious honor and something I’d probably rather forget. Was horribly booked, and it didn’t do me any favors.” (h/t 411Mania)

In July 2025, nearly another dozen years after he left, AJ Styles made a return to TNA thanks to the company’s working relationship with WWE. At Slammiversary, the crowd cheered for their hero. How his career in the house he built was long forgotten. All that remained was the legend who had given them so much.