8 Times TNA Tried To Be WWE

2. AJ Styles Rips Off The Second Summer Of Punk

Cm Punk Money In The Bank 2011
WWE.com

Two entire years after CM Punk blew up in the WWE by teasing leaving the company with the WWE Championship upon expiry of his contract, TNA ran an identical angle with AJ Styles.

In the photocopied storyline, Styles too was booked to vent his frustration with company owner Dixie Carter by delivering worked shoot complaints about TNA to the viewers, but - being AJ Styles - he didn't remotely have the promo skills to ape CM Punk’s revolutionary, firebrand style.

Styles won, of course, and did walk out with the title, which was promptly vacated. Styles returned to face the new champion in a title unification storyline about five weeks or so later.

Unlike the WWE’s version, in which Vince McMahon got cold feet and ordered Punk to return only a week or so after the Money In The Bank event, Styles actually got to defend the TNA Championship in Mexico and Japan.

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Contributor

Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.