WWE Rumors: AJ Styles' New Deal Followed Up With Contract For Ex-Champion

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) chairman Vince McMahon would have breathed a sigh of relief after securing the signature of AJ Styles on a new deal. At one point it seemed like the former WWE SmackDown Live champion will leave the company.

Styles – real name Allen Jones – would have been out of contract in April after WrestleMania 35 and has been in negotiations with the WWE for a number of months. He is expected to have rejected multiple offers but the details of the new agreement remain unclear at the moment.

The former WWE SmackDown champion was keen to have a much more limited schedule in order to spend more time with family and it was likely that the management took his demands into consideration.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the newly formed promotion looking to get a chunk of the pro-wrestling pie in North America, were monitoring the situation and were expected to have also made an offer to Styles. AEW is backed by Pakistani American billionaire Shahid Khan and they do have the power to match the lucrative terms WWE can offer.

Styles joined WWE in 2016 and was an instant success with the dynamic wrestler holding the SmackDown title for 371 days before dropping it to Daniel Bryan in November 2018. The 41-year-old’s next big assignment is a one-on-one match against the "legend killer" Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35.

Apart from re-signing existing talent, WWE has been looking to make additions to their roster. Triple H recently promoted a number of stars from the NXT brand to the main roster with the likes of Ricochet and Alistair Black making an instant impact.

PW Insider’s Mike Johnson is reporting that WWE has now signed former Impact Wrestling X-division champion DJ Z to a WWE NXT deal. The 32-year-old – real name Michael Paris – was out of contract after leaving Impact Wrestling in December and is said to have received the new offer in February.

The emergence of AEW has certainly made WWE sit up and take notice with the world’s most popular promotion now actively looking to secure a number of their superstars to long-term deals. However, they are set to lose one of their biggest stars in Dean Ambrose, who has refused to sign a new deal and will likely leave after WrestleMania in April.

There are questions also with regard to the futures of tag team duo Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, who are said to be delaying contract talks in order to learn the market before making a decision on their future. AEW is said to be ready to offer pro-wrestlers contracts on par with WWE with more flexibility in their schedule and better roles.