Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles: TNA's Future Is Bright After Bound for Glory Main Event

When AJ Styles defeated Bully Ray for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Bound for Glory, it was clear that there would be a major changing of the guard within the company.

The future of Impact Wrestling looks bright with Styles as champion.

As the new heavyweight titleholder, Styles offers TNA the homegrown face of the company that it should be building around. Styles has been there since Day 1, and rewarding him with the title and a main event push is fundamental to the theory of building from within.

Impact Wrestling officials and the entire TNA brand need to focus on their own product instead of competing with WWE, and giving the title to Styles is the right way to begin the process of shifting the culture of the company.

Not only does putting Styles on top of the card help build TNA’s credibility, but it also gives him a clear antagonist in Dixie Carter. While the owner of the company has been lackluster in her role, she is a clear authority figure whom Styles can fight against.

This is a basic story that fans can easily support.

Styles' title win doesn’t just benefit his momentum, though. The main event victory also has started the unavoidable breakup of the Aces & Eights motorcycle gang. While TNA has seen some dreadful angles over the years, few were as terrible as what has been witnessed over the last three months, as this heel stable had no direction.

In the process of expelling the gang from the company—it may take a rematch and another month of programming to fully eliminate Bully and his boys—Styles will also help bring the company back to what made it great in the first place: real wrestling.

Styles is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and TNA must get the kind of great wrestler needed to compliment his in-ring style. With the future in the hands of the new champion, the focus on the in-ring product should increase exponentially moving forward.

If the company is going to survive the next several years, Impact Wrestling officials need to lean heavily on Styles and what he and the TNA originals brought to the sport.

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