WWE News: TNA And NJPW Star AJ Styles Not Under Contract With Anyone, Jump To WWE Upcoming?

There has been a great deal of talk surrounding AJ Styles and what he will do when his deal with New Japan Pro-Wrestling comes up. However, that may not be something we have to wait on. It was rumored months back that Styles’ deal was up around December of this year or in January of 2016. He would be working with NJPW and ROH until the expiration.

That is not the case, as The Wresting Observer claims he is not under contract with any promotion right now and is strictly working on a per date basis. The pay is good for AJ, so he is not complaining about not getting a new deal as of now. This is interesting to see, as many speculated Styles would make his way to WWE once his deal with NJPW was up.

There was a rumor that AJ Styles was at the WWE NXT taping this past week, but the photo shown of him there was not real. This does not mean Styles has not spoken to WWE. There have been rumored talks between the two parties, but nothing is said to be concrete. WWE has recently brought in Austin Aries and Gunner for a tryout and they already have Samoa Joe on their NXT roster with James Storm making various appearances, as well.

This means that WWE is more than willing to bring in a star like AJ Styles; in fact, they really need to. People like Finn Balor and Hideo Itami as well as Sami Zayn will be headed to the main roster within the next year and WWE has to replace them with big names. While WWE has gone out and signed great young talent like La Sombra this past week as well as Uhaa Nation (now Apollo Crews), they still need top names to tour with.

When WWE first brought in Samoa Joe, they allowed him to work dates outside of WWE NXT similar to what they were doing with Rhyno, who came in simply to help with enhancing the talent. They felt Joe could do the same thing as Rhyno, but quickly realized he was a money maker for them and wanted him to be more exclusive. They allowed him to finish up Independent dates he had and he then he became a NXT focused star.

The same is likely being considered with James Storm, and he might eventually be brought in to help train guys seeing as that was what WWE considered doing before with him on top of having him perform some. Now that Billy Gunn is gone, there is an opening. Meanwhile, there is no telling what WWE is planning for Gunner and Aries at this point.

As for AJ Styles, he loves working for Ring of Honor and NJPW. He has made a lot of money and can be happy there for a while. WWE does have interest and AJ said he would go if they made a good offer for him. He is set for dates with Ring of Honor among others through February of 2016. He very well could be in by the time this occurs and WWE can simply allow him to finish his dates up, but there is no telling if they can bring him in before then or not.

There is a rumor that we could see AJ Styles make an appearance when WWE NXT does their live special from London, England next month. AJ Styles is said to be in Japan around that time but he could make the trip over if WWE can sign him to some sort of deal by then. This is a rumor as of now but it does hold merit as Samoa Joe was able to work with WWE while also working independent dates. It will be interesting to see what occurs with AJ Styles and the rest of the athletes in the coming weeks.

[Image via TNA Wrestling]