10 Reasons AJ Styles Is The Best WWE Signing Of The Decade

10. The TNA Stench

For nearly a decade, TNA occupied the oddest space in WWE's radar as both the company's nearest competition and merely a spectre of a wrestling war past.

The Orlando outfit's persistent presence on television was for many years little more than a tool in perception management. It mattered not that financial backers were keeping the company afloat regardless of stagnant television ratings, underwhelming buyrates and a core audience that paid zero dollars for tickets - it was a desperately-needed alternate direction to a stale WWE. For so many disillusioned fans, that was enough.

For Vince McMahon, it was a reason not to give a sh*t. Company-wide indifference to the talent on display in TNA was almost beyond belief. Furthermore, the bang average performances from the few that did sneak through left a stain on the alleged quality of the organisation.

AJ Styles - at long last - delivered the 'Phenomenal' performances as advertised. He was irrefutably the cornerstone of the company and biggest advocate of the groups scant advantages. A polished and professional television performer with a relatively unblemished bump card, his Royal Rumble 2016 debut symbolically kicked the door down for Bobby Roode, Eric Young, EC3 and countless future stars that can at long last use their history as a help rather than a hindrance.