AJ Styles Says TNA May Never Have Existed If WCW Had Survived

By Jitu Jangir

August 24, 2026 at 5:11 PM IST

11.5K

3 min read

AJ Styles Says TNA May Never Have Existed If WCW Had Survived

AJ Styles believes TNA Wrestling may never have been created if WCW had remained in business, explaining that the company’s closure created space for another national wrestling promotion in the United States.

Speaking on The AJ Styles Show, Styles looked back at the end of WCW and how his own career could have followed a completely different path. WWE purchased WCW in March 2001, while TNA held its first event on June 19, 2002.

Styles made several appearances for WCW during its final months, competing mainly on WCW Thunder and WCW Worldwide. He teamed with Air Paris as Air Raid and was among the younger wrestlers WCW was beginning to feature before the company closed.

When asked whether he would have remained with WCW, Styles explained that he viewed the promotion as the place where he wanted to build his career.

“I don’t think TNA would have ever happened if WCW wouldn’t have folded,” Styles said. “I think that I was a WCW guy. I mean, they’re out of Atlanta, of course, and to see the cruiserweights, I really enjoyed watching those guys. You’d be entertained by the nWo, but it was their cruiserweights that caught my eye, and of course I was a cruiserweight.”

WCW’s cruiserweight division featured wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Juventud Guerrera and Billy Kidman. Their faster wrestling style offered Styles a possible route into the company at a time when larger wrestlers often occupied the main-event positions.

Styles said he expected his WCW opportunity to become a long-term arrangement before the promotion was sold.

“As far as I was concerned, I was going to be there for the long run,” he continued. “I probably think about this way too much, but the ‘what ifs’—what if WCW hadn’t finished? What if some people wouldn’t have had as much creative control over things? How much damage was done? A lot of money was being used, and they just didn’t take care of the money well. That’s what it comes down to.”

After WCW closed, Styles continued working across the independent scene before joining TNA at its launch in 2002. He appeared on the company’s first weekly pay-per-view and became its inaugural X Division Champion. Styles initially viewed TNA as another independent booking that would provide him with additional income. His opinion changed when the promotion began adding more wrestlers and attracting attention.

“I thought TNA was an indie. I didn’t really know much about it,” Styles explained. “I was just like, ‘Hey, I’m happy to collect a paycheck and do this every Wednesday night. I’m totally cool with this. This is fine with me.’ That’s what I thought until about three months of it. I was like, ‘Wait a minute. This might be something. We might have something here.’”

Styles remained with TNA until 2014 and became one of the wrestlers most closely connected with the company. He won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, TNA World Heavyweight Championship, X Division Championship and tag team titles during his run.