By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Listening to TNA wrestler A.J. Styles for 50 minutes in an audio interview will reveal plenty about his mentality in TNA after being with the company since the beginning.

In an interview on the "PWI Weekly" podcast this week, Styles sounded frustrated and confused by some elements of the decision-making in TNA. He didn't sound unhappy to be in TNA. Rather, he sounded like a wrestler who cares about the success or failure of the promotion and has questioned some decisions made this year.

Specifically, Styles expressed disagreement with the decision to take the TNA World Title off him and giving the title to Rob Van Dam earlier this year.

"I definitely didn't understand it. For the life of me, I couldn't figure it. I was very surprised that they would want me to lose that title after holding it for so long, and to somebody who hasn't been in wrestling for over a year, and came from WWE to win the World Title so quickly," Styles said.

"And he should have been tired from wrestling a match before that (against Jeff Hardy). I was very conflicted on that. It was like, 'I have no idea what's going on here anymore.' I don't know how to put it in words. I was pissed off - I don't want to say that - but at the same time, I was very confused. 'Okay, I guess I'm not the star that I thought I was here at TNA. I guess I'm just a TNA guy.'"

Part of Styles's frustration was evident when he gave a politically correct response when asked about TNA turning him heel at the beginning of the year. Styles said he's a team player and will do what the company believes is best. However, he said he felt he could have made more money for TNA as a babyface champion before they cut his run short by turning him heel.

Considering his tenure, Styles said he thinks he should be given more opportunities to contribute creatively. Styles said he learned that, from his perspective, TNA apparently didn't view him as highly as he thought he was viewed. Styles was responding to some people calling him "the face of TNA."

"Sometimes, I wish the higher-ups would say, 'Hey, A.J., what do you think about this?' But, I don't get that. So, I feel like, 'Okay, I'm a regular old wrestler and that's it,'" Styles said.

Styles also gave a blunt assessment of the changes in TNA this year. He said TNA should not have moved to Monday nights when asked about the timeslot changes in 2010 and how it's affected the audience being able to follow the product on a week-to-week basis.

"We never should have switched to Monday nights. We know that now. I wish that we would have just gone live on Thursday nights. The first one we did on Monday nights was huge, but Thursday nights was our night. There's no mistake about it; Monday night is WWE's. It's theirs. We need to own Thursday nights," Styles said.

Styles continued: "I think there are mistakes that have done. I don't know if it's necessarily the people we've brought in, but there's stuff where surely they took a step back and thought, 'Okay, maybe we don't need this.' There were some people brought in who I don't think we necessarily needed. But, there's Jeff Hardy. He sells so much merchandise; he's making so much money for this company. There are other guys I think who deserved a shot at TNA who are not here that I'm very confused they're not here because I think they could make money."

Styles identified Delirious as one wrestler he would have brought in to TNA because of his experience and knowledge in the business. He also commented on TNA releasing Christopher Daniels.

"It was very disturbing at first. I was very upset and confused," he said. "I hope it's not a long time (before he comes back), or they'll bring Chris back."

During the interview, Styles was asked about TNA president Dixie Carter's job performance. Styles gave a positive assessment that Carter is willing to take risks and "some pay off; some don't," but the company is learning from those risks.

Regarding the X Division, Styles talked up Amazing Red, X Division champion Doug Williams, and Generation Me. He said the issue he sees with the presentation is a lack of emphasis on wrestling and their personalities.

"We have to have more X Division matches in there," Styles said. "We have to let people see it. If it were up to me, we would have a little more wrestling and less talking. But, I've said that since the beginning."

The X Division comment also played into what Styles said in response to how TNA could eventually surpass WWE.

"Build our wrestlers so our people know them," Styles said. "We have to make sure people know who these people are and make them important. And our storylines to go along with the character - you need to finish and end those."

Regarding the current ECW emphasis in TNA, Styles optimistically said he thinks it's "interesting." He said he hopes it helps the company and he's not bothered by the current focus on ECW wrestlers during TNA's TV time.

"It's interesting. I'm anxious to see Jerry Lynn-Rob Van Dam again. There's going to be other matches that are classic ECW. I'm not really bothered with it," Styles said. "It is kind of weird we're having a PPV for those guys, but it's interesting. I think people will buy this PPV to see, 'I wonder what's going to happen.'"

Link: Download the full audio of Styles's interview on thebradyhicks.com. It's from the "PWI Weekly" publication, which means it's more of a "fan interview," but there are few pertinent questions mixed in with the "fan talk."

Caldwell's Analysis: I'll look at the decision to take the title off Styles. At the beginning of the year, Styles was put in a difficult position playing second fiddle to Ric Flair with TNA trying to present Styles as "Flair, Jr." There was no way Styles was going to succeed as a "cheap suit" standing next to an "Armani." The booking played to Styles's weaknesses, didn't strengthen him as champion, and essentially sabotaged the good run he was having as babyface champion.

It was the type of classic booking mistake TNA has made at times, including when Samoa Joe held the TNA Title in 2008 fresh off his hot feud with Kurt Angle. Instead of playing to his strengths, TNA turned him into a crybaby, stole his "cool" factor having him stand next to Kevin Nash (the same analogy applies of Styles standing next to Flair), and booked him as a tweener character the audience just shrugged their shoulders in response to. It's amazing creative changes have not been made despite the pattern of (unintentional or intentional) sabotage booking in TNA.

[Styles photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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