2003-2012 On March 14, Styles returned to International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) and successfully challenged IWC Super Indy Champion Super Hentai for the title. On April 13 , Styles defended the title in a rematch against Hentai , but the match ended in a no contest, meaning Styles retained the title.  AJ WITH THE IWC TITLE On May 10 , Styles vacated the title. On August 23 , Styles unsuccessfully challenged new Super Indy Champion   Colt Cabana   after the match ended at a t wenty-minute time limit draw , meaning Cabana retained the title. On December 12 at IWC: Call to Arms , Styles would once again challenge Cabana for the title, but again was unsuccessful.   On April 12 , Styles debuted in   Combat Zone Wrestling   (CZW) , competing at the promotions 3rd   Best of the Best   event . Styles teamed with   Jason Cross   to face   Jay Briscoe   and Jimmy Rave , in a losing effort. On July 20 , at CZW: Deja Vu II , Styles successfully defended the NWA World Hea

While in TNA, AJ was involved with the Mexican and Japanese promotions. He was involved in multiple promotions and was at his best. AJ IN MEXICAN PROMOTION On September 17, 2006 at  Verano de Escándalo , Styles made his debut for  Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) , as part of a cross promotion deal between TNA and AAA . Team TNA (Styles, Homicide, Low Ki and Samoa Joe) defeated Vipers Revolution (Abismo Negro, Charly Manson, Electroshock and Histeria) in a semi finales tournament match then later defeating The Mexican Powers (Crazy Boy, Joe Lider and Juventud Guerrera) in the finals. AJ IN AAA During a partnership between TNA and  New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) , Styles made four appearances for NJPW in 2008 , starting on  January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom II , where Styles teamed with Christian Cage and  Petey Williams  to defeat  RISE (Milano Collection AT, Minoru and Prince Devitt) in a six-man tag team match.  NJPW 2008

ENTIRE STORYLINE On the February 9 episode of Impact Wrestling, Kazarian , now seemingly a reluctant associate of Daniels , helped him defeat Styles in a singles match. Three days later at  Against All Odds , Styles was defeated by Kazarian in a singles match.  STYLES VS KAZARIAN AGAINST ALL ODDS On the March 3 episode of Impact Wrestling , Kazarian defeated Styles in a gauntlet match ; had Styles been successful, Kazarian would have to explain his alliance with Daniels .  Mr. Anderson then aligned with Styles , defeating them in a match at  Victory Road  and at  Lockdown , where the two duos were on opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match . On the May 10 episode of Impact Wrestling, Kazarian revealed that he originally aligned himself with Daniels to keep him from revealing Styles' secret, but changed his mind after learning what the secret was, at which point Daniels revealed a series of photographs insinuating a relationship between Styles and

TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION (2009–2010) On the August 20 episode of Impact! , Styles was talked out of retiring by Sting , who said he had chosen Styles to carry the torch after him. At  No Surrender , Styles won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a five-way match against Matt Morgan, Sting, Hernandez, and defending champion Kurt Angle .  NO SURRENDER MATCH At  Bound for Glory , Styles retained the title against Sting , ending his undefeated streak at  Bound for Glory  in the process.  Styles was mysteriously attacked by an anonymous assailant backstage leading him to believe it was Samoa Joe or Christopher Daniels , both of whom he faced the following month at  Turning Point  to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship . He continued to successfully defend the title against  Desmond Wolfe  on the December 10 episode of Impact! , against Daniels at Final Resolution, against Angle on the January 4, 2010 episode of Impact!,  and against Tomko, who had