AJ Styles Called Out By Top TNA Champion

A TNA champion who knows AJ Styles well wants to see The Phenomenal One in a TNA ring one more time.

AJ Styles has made it clear numerous times that he plans to retire as a professional wrestler in 2026.

At 48 years old (49 in 2026), the former WWE Champion Styles wants to retire while he’s still performing at a high level, which he clearly is as a World Tag Team Champion on the Raw brand with Dragon Lee.

While Styles has been a WWE guy for nearly a decade, he spent more than a decade in TNA Wrestling, where he was a World Champion, and also in New Japan, where he was a World Champion. During WWE’s last tour of Japan in October, AJ Styles received a special tribute from WWE for his history in the country.

Regarding TNA, AJ Styles appeared at their Slammiversary PLE back in July to put over X-Division Champion Leon Slater as an incredible star on the rise. However, it’s not known if Styles will wrestle there.

The new TNA World Champion Frankie Kazarian knows AJ Styles well from their time in TNA, and they are also around the same age. During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Kazarian made it clear he wants to wrestle Styles in TNA again.

“Absolutely excites me. I think we’ve both kind of, AJ and myself, have both put it out there over the last few months that he’s ready to go, I’m ready to go.

You know, we just basically need one or two guys to sign off on it.

I know AJ wants this to happen. I want it to happen. More importantly, the fans want it to happen. And look, that’s what we’re in the business of — of giving the fans what they want. And giving the fans what they want one more time, because AJ is hanging it up.”

The TNA World Champion Respects AJ Styles

As he continued, Kazarian spoke about the respect he had for Styles.

“AJ, there’s nobody I respect more. There’s nobody I’m a bigger fan of. And with his history with this company and me now being the guy here, the stakes just went up. So this match could mean even more than it would have.

We’re waiting on one guy to sign off. And I hope that guy does sign off on it. Because that would be a great button on our, not only our both of our careers, but our friendship.” (H/T Wrestlingnewsco)

For his part, AJ Styles has said he would welcome a return to the TNA ring, but he made the point that TNA’s deal with WWE is between TNA and NXT, so he’s not sure if it can happen.

“It’s NXT that has the partnership, not the main roster talent. Listen, I wish I could do it. I think I should be the only guy to do it, but that’s being very selfish. We’ll see what happens in the future, I don’t know necessarily. We’ll find out together.”

It sounds like AJ Styles wants the TNA match to happen, so as Kazarian said, it’s up for one or two people to sign off on it. Stay tuned.

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