Big Creative Plans For AJ Styles Changed Just Before Slammiversary

AJ Styles made a surprise return to TNA Wrestling at Slammiversary 2025, appearing after Leon Slater captured the X-Division Championship from Moose.

In his promo, Styles paid tribute to the legacy of the X-Division and TNA, offering his endorsement of Slater as the next rising star.

TNA President Carlos Silva told Sports Illustrated’s “The Takedown” with Jon Alba that creative plans for Styles “changed a few times” ahead of the show, though the goal from the start was to honor his history with the X-Division.

According to Alba, “multiple TNA sources relayed that the former WWE Champion was originally slated to be involved in a segment with Frankie Kazarian, but plans shifted just hours before the event.”

Kazarian was instead featured on commentary during the main event TNA World Title match between Trick Williams, Mike Santana, and Joe Hendry. While on commentary, he subtly referenced Styles.

Alba added that “TNA sources believed WWE may have influenced the decision, as the company didn’t want to suggest a future Styles match in TNA that wouldn’t come to fruition — especially since no main roster WWE stars have wrestled in TNA during the ongoing partnership.”

Moose dropped the TNA X-Division Championship to Leon Slater at TNA Slammiversary 2025. After the match, Styles made a surprise return to TNA, stepping into the ring to congratulate Slater — a moment many fans saw as a symbolic passing of the torch.

Interestingly, Slater later revealed he had no idea Styles would be coming out after his match. The 20-year-old TNA star tweeted,

“I HAD NO CLUE”

I HAD NO CLUE 😭 https://t.co/d6cFDWtrxo

— LEON SLATER (@LEONSLATER_) July 21, 2025

WWE Hall of Famer JBL has revealed that his recent stint in TNA Wrestling was unexpectedly cut short after a former executive scrapped a planned long-term storyline.

The revelation comes in the wake of TNA’s record-setting Slammiversary 2025 pay-per-view event, where JBL was originally slated to play a significant role.

Speaking on the “Something to Wrestle” podcast, JBL explained that there were extensive creative plans for his character, designed to play out over the course of the year, before being abruptly dropped. He said,

“I was supposed to be there and initially and I was supposed to be have a really a part that people wouldn’t believe that how big it was, but that that did not work out. So there’s a reason, the reason that that got ended in TNA was it wasn’t, it wasn’t because of me. Maybe it was maybe, kind of, maybe because I’m not any good. But it was a decision made by somebody who’s no longer there… I was supposed to have a real escalation of what we’re doing at TNA. We had the whole thing planned out. And, you know, I don’t want to take away any thunder, away from what these guys are doing now, because I don’t, it’s not about me… But I was really loved being a part, and I was supposed to be a part going forward, and all of a sudden, I’d agreed to what I was going to do, and there was a huge escalation that was happening. All that stuff was going somewhere. I thought everybody was and it was, it was going somewhere, and I was very, very excited about it. Was training for it. I got in really good shape for it. Was ready to go. And then they called me one day and said, ‘Hey, we’re changing our mind,’ and that’s their prerogative. Somebody is no longer there. It was not again, it was not Tommy and Carlos… And when they said it, it was just something that, you know, it’s just business, what they wanted to change, but I thought it made absolutely no sense. And the person that said it is no longer there, and what they changed it to never happened. So I think, in hindsight, I was 100% correct.”