WWE's Nick Aldis Says Wrestling AJ Styles' Final TNA Match Was A 'Dubious Honor'

While Nick Aldis was in the midst of his TNA career wrestling under the name Magnus, he had the honor of being AJ Styles' final opponent in the company, but unfortunately the match largely undelivered. Aldis and Styles fought for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that night, but it was also a No Disqualification Match, leading there to be an abundance of interference and run-ins throughout the contest. The match was heavily slammed for being overbooked along with a disservice for Styles' final TNA match, but Aldis felt that most of the criticism fell on his shoulders afterwards. 

"It's a dubious honor and something I'd probably rather forget. Was horribly booked and didn't do me any favors ... it kind of hurt me a lot actually," he explained during a recent appearance on "Insight." "A lot of that I felt like got hung around my neck to be honest. AJ's TNA career came to an end and that was such a tragedy for TNA fans. I think a lot of that negative energy ended up being directed at me. I became the sort of face of it and I didn't have anything to do with it. I was just doing what I was told ... it's definitely something that I sort of tend to compartmentalize and keep locked away cause that hurt my career. It was kind of the end of my TNA career too."

Aldis also felt that former AEW star Sting was also treated unfairly in his final days working for TNA, particularly when he faced him during "The Icon's" second last match for the promotion. More than anything, Aldis was frustrated with TNA because he knew Sting deserved better, especially since the legend helped him grow as a singles star.

"They did the same thing with Sting, the same b******t like 20 run-ins ... even Sting hated that, because Steve Bordon is an absolute class act human being and for whatever reason, God bless, he took a shine to me and wanted to do a lot for me right from the start. I had a match with Sting in 2009. I'd been in the company like three months, because Sting said, 'Give me that guy' ... I was part of a tag team, there was no reason why I should have been having a singles match with Sting in the main event of 'iMPACT!' at that point in my career. I was 22 or whatever," he said. "That match helped establish me with a lot of the veterans like [Kevin] Nash and [Scott] Steiner."

Aldis continued by speaking about his clash with Sting at TNA Bound For Glory 2013, four years after their first battle, where the veteran was expected to win. However, on the day of the event, Sting made the call for Aldis to win using the Cloverleaf, which eventually led the "National Treasure" to win the TNA World Heavyweight Title two months later, as the WWE Hall Of Famer lobbied for him to become champion.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.