AJ Styles makes 1st TNA appearance in over 10 years at Slammiversary; WWE NXT stars leave as champions

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A.J. Styles returned to a Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling ring for the first time since December 2013 on Sunday night during the Slammiversary pay-per-view.

Styles came out to his most well-known entrance music. As soon as "get ready to fly" was heard in the UBS Arena, the fans on Long Island, New York, nearly blew the lid off the place. Styles took in the moment and addressed the crowd.

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A.J. Styles enters the ring during Monday Night RAW at PHX Arena on June 9, 2025 in Phoenix. (Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)

"It’s been a long road. Here I am in this ring in this company where my name was built. I am the phenomenal A.J. Styles," he said to the roaring crowd. "There was a time where they said you may not be able to come back. But here I am, and I’m telling you the lights are a little bit brighter here, the crowd is a little bit louder here and Leon (Slater), the talent is better than it’s ever been."

Styles put over Slater, who had just defeated Moose to win the X-Division Championship and become the youngest X-Division titleholder in TNA’s history.

"The Phenomenal One" is considered to be the greatest TNA wrestler of all-time. He was a six-time X-Division champion and won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice. He was also a three-time National Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion when the company was aligned with TNA. He joined WWE in 2014.

It was far from the only highlight of the night.

WWE NXT women’s champion Jacy Jayne went head-to-head against TNA knockouts champion Masha Slamovich in a winner-takes-all match.

Jayne proved that it was her world and