10 Wrestlers Who Had To Deal With Major Pay Cuts

1. AJ Styles

For a lengthy period of time you couldn’t associate AJ Styles without TNA, and vice versa. AJ spent over 10 years in the company, often being referred to as ‘Mr. TNA’. He spent so much time there he was able to become Triple Crown winner 5 times and Grand Slam winner twice!

But AJ and TNA came to a huge standstill in contract negotiations in 2013 that would ultimately lead to his departure. TNA were having huge financial struggles around this period, cutting numerous talent from its roster. TNA wanted to keep AJ but expected him to work the same amount but be paid substantially less. They wanted to cut his pay more than half!

AJ, believing in his abilities and knowing his worth, refused. He did the honours to Magnus on the way out and left for greener pastures with NJPW and WWE where he became one of the biggest Superstars the company ever had, with Vince McMahon eventually telling him “I wish I would have hired you ten years ago.”

In a shoot interview AJ went into detail on the whole TNA pay/contract debacle, after it was rumoured TNA tried cutting his pay by 60%:

“I think saying 60 percent is being generous. It’s kind of crazy when that’s the first offer, you’re like ‘Wait, what? That doesn’t make any sense. I’ve worked here for 11 years, hard for 11 years. I’ve gotten more popular over the last year, so I don’t know what’s going on. This doesn’t make much sense to me.'”