Those Times Wrestlers Dodged Career-Killing Bullets

10. AJ Styles Decides To Say No To Impact's Contract Extension

On the back of a hell of an 11-year spell under the TNA/Impact banner, 'The Phenomenal' AJ Styles was presented with two options in late 2013.

Stay with the company he'd called home for over a decade, which would mean accepting a reported 60% paycut - though Styles himself would later note to Title Match Wrestling that "saying 60 percent is being generous."

Or bet on himself and explore the rest of the wrestling business.

Styles would refuse that disappointing offer in the end, and eventually end up going on to even bigger and better things in the likes of NJPW and WWE, winning both the IWGP Heavyweight and WWE Championships in the years that followed.

The TNA brand wasn't exactly a hot property at the time of Styles' exit and only continued to lose more momentum, with the likes of Sting, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian and more departing not long after Styles.

Had Styles accepted that rather disrespectful offer, or TNA just agreed to give him the same money he was already earning - something Styles has openly admitted would have led to him staying put - it's hard to imagine this last decade of his career being anywhere near as phenomenal or memorable as it ultimately was. 

He'd still be the same TNA legend he is today, of course. But one whose career may have suffered by sticking around during one of the company's weakest periods.