8 TNA Impact Gimmick Changes That Lengthened Careers
3. AJ Styles
No, not his heel turn as the Prince of Phenomenal, back during the turf war between the Angle Alliance and the Christian Coalition.
And no, not his abysmal turn as mini-Ric Flair in the feathered robe.
Instead, it was the darker, quieter turn as AJ Styles: I am with no one, during the rise of Aces & Eights, that took a stale babyface (particularly one mistreated by years of bad booking punctuated by the Claire Lynch debacle) and offered him a chance to reinvent himself as a mysterious outsider, à la Crow Sting during the NWO days of WCW.
AJ changed up his move set, altered his look, and would go on to not only deliver a TNA career-best promo after sending D-Von packing, but also ignite the slow-burn destruction of Aces & Eights by doing so.
It's hard to imagine New Japan's Bullet Club AJ or WWE's "Beat Up John Cena" AJ existing without his run as a lone wolf in TNA.