Thousands of feet in the air, Christopher Daniels sat in Business Class of a Boeing 777, thinking over the events of the past month.   He thought about how Frankie Kazarian got locked up in a mental ward.   How Frankie’s wife, Traci Brooks, has been forced to go into hiding.   How Alyssa Flash, Awesome Kong, and now, even Bobby Lashley, have been beaten, humiliated, and fired.   How Dr. Stevie Richards became Head of Talent Relations in exchange for tossing Daffney back into the asylum she so deeply feared.   And about Taylor Wilde, who was, at that very moment, still in California with Matt Hardy, who was beaten down by the Nasty Boys while delivering ‘releases’ to Taylor and Traci.   As the thoughts flooded his mind, Chris found himself feeling more and more helpless.   After all, he, along with everyone he cared about, had helped build TNA Wrestling, and now, because of one man, everything he had helped to build was being ripped apart.   Chris was watching helplessly as everyone he cared about and respected was being decimated for one man’s vision.  

It began, innocently enough, with acquisition of Hulk Hogan to TNA Wrestling.   A landmark signing, to be sure.   The single biggest name in professional wrestling history was now coming to TNA.   A whole new world of legitimacy and media exposure was being opened to TNA, and, of course, everyone in TNA was initially excited about the prospect of a major name coming to TNA and exposing their product to a larger audience.   Not only was this an exciting moment for TNA and their fans, but was also a defining moment for TNA President, Dixie Carter.   She had spent months asserting her newly won power over TNA, having ousted Jeff Jarrett over a personal matter, and by signing Hogan, she was making it clear to everyone that she, not Jarrett, was now running the ship in TNA.   For Dixie, this was the moment she moved from figurehead authority figure, to leader of TNA.   It was her show now, and with Hogan by her side, she was convinced that it would only be a matter of time before her company was the #1 wrestling promotion in the world.  

Since then, things in TNA have slowly, but surely, taken a turn for the worse.   The moment Hogan stepped foot in TNA, things changed, and not a single change has been a positive one.   In fact, all Hogan’s changes have done is reinforce to the fans of TNA that the product they love and have supported for nearly eight years is completely worthless to those in power, and that Hogan, Bischoff, and Dixie Carter could not possibly care less about the fans that have kept TNA alive for so long.   It has also reinforced a message to the talent of TNA that they were second-class citizens in Hogan’s eyes, as Hogan brought in more and more former WWE talent to take up all the top spots in TNA.   Hogan claimed that everyone was going to have to earn their spot in TNA, yet no one can think of one thing, off hand, that Ken Anderson has done to earn his spot.   Or Sean Morley had to earn his.   Or The Nasty Boys have to earn theirs, other than maybe kissing the right ass or, once upon a time, working for Vince McMahon’s WWE.   Sure, Hogan always made sure to say the right things on TV in order to come off as if he weren’t outright supporting these people, but it was obvious that he was.   Otherwise, why would they be on TV at all?   Wrestling Fans aren’t stupid.   They know when things aren’t right, and anyone who’s been unfortunate enough to watch Impact since Hogan’s debut knows, for a fact, that bad things are happening in TNA Wrestling.   And it all began with one man – AJ Styles.

For the TNA Fans, AJ was nothing short of a blessing.   A natural athlete, he took to wrestling like a duck to water, and within three years of his professional debut, AJ Styles was a major star, having been the first man to hold every major title in TNA.   He was such a phenomenon that TNA practically built their entire company around him, using him as the spokesperson and poster boy for everything that made TNA different, and, in many ways, better than the competition.   There was virtually no one on earth like AJ Styles, and while every wrestling company in the world tried desperately to recreate the AJ Phenomenon with other wrestlers, not a single one could even begin to hold a candle to the Phenomenal AJ Styles.   So, at the Genesis pay-per-view, it was strange to see AJ, the consummate babyface who TNA fans turned out to see in droves, the hero which every TNA fan clearly stood behind and supported, turn his back on the fans and align himself with the ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair.   Since then, the once loved hero of TNA has become a ‘Nature Boy’ knock-off, leaving his friends in the dust.

Daniels knew that if he was going to get to the bottom of what was going on with Hogan, he would first have to confront AJ Styles.   Since Hogan joined TNA, there has been a noticeable change in AJ’s demeanor, a change Daniels noticed almost right away. While the fans vilified Daniels’ at the time, thinking he was jealous of AJ’s title, it was now clear, not only to the fans, but to Daniels himself, that perhaps Styles had been this way all along.   Tomko tried to warn them, but no one would listen.   Now, aligned with Ric Flair, AJ was jetting off to God knows where doing God knows what with the Dirtiest Player in the Game by his side, footing the bill.   And while Hogan and Flair will swear up and down, that they hate each other, and are by no means affiliated, there was no way Flair, on his own, could afford to buy AJ a brand new wardrobe, fly him around the world, and party it up every night in a brand new city.   The alimony Flair owes his many ex-wives alone would drive just about anyone on TNA’s payroll into the poor house three times over… except one.   Hogan.

Frankie Kazarian had believed that AJ’s alliance with Flair was yet another ruse of Hogan’s, to keep people in TNA distracted while he and Bischoff ripped TNA apart by the seams and stitched it back together in their own image.   When he first brought this to Daniels’ attention, Chris wrote it off, thinking that he was paranoid, but after the events of the past several weeks, Daniels now wondered if, perhaps, Kaz was right the whole time.   Perhaps this all was a conspiracy.

As Daniels’ flight was about to land, he received a text message from Samoa Joe’s wife.   It read –

Joe’s missing.   Call me ASAP.

Meanwhile, at the Bellagio Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, the TNA World Champion, AJ Styles, looked out on Sin City from the balcony of his penthouse suite.   Never before in his life had AJ seen anything like it.   Manmade lights as far as the eye could see lighting the night sky so brightly, you could hardly tell it was nighttime at all, a city that truly never slept, moving and breathing below him.   For the first time in his life, AJ was literally on top of the world.

“There’s nothing like it, is there, champ?” a voice called out from behind AJ.   He turned to see his newfound mentor, the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, standing in the doorway, watching AJ watching the world below.

“No,” AJ said, overwhelmed by the new world he had suddenly inherited.  

“You think this is something?   Wait ‘til we party it up in Dubai!   That place makes Vegas look like that old trailer park your mom used to live in,” Flair told the young champion.   “Now, I don’t know about you, but the Nature Boy, WOO!!!   The Nature Boy’s got women on the brain, you know what I’m saying?   And there’s a line of fine, young ladies, just dying for a ride on Space Mountain, you know what I’m telling you?”

Flair led his young protégé back inside their penthouse suite, and showed him the many, many women, talking and waiting for their chance to meet AJ.   Blonde, brunette, and redhead alike, dressed like movie stars and models, gorgeous as the day was long.  

“You remember those dreams you’d have as a kid about Sally What’s-Her-Name and her cheerleader friends?” Flair began.   “Now imagine walking up to any girl her, and getting just that.”

“You’re kidding, right?” AJ asked, incredulously.   “You’re telling me, I can go to anyone here, tell them to bring their friends, and…?”

“AJ!!!” Flair shouted, eyes bugging out of his head.   “Do you have any idea where you are?   Las Vegas!   Sin City!   The girls’ll do anything here!   Let me show you!”   Flair walked up to a pretty young blonde sipping champagne nearby.   “You!   Make out with your friend, there!”   The girl smiled at Flair, then pulled over the brunette standing next to her, and gave her a deep, passionate kiss.

“DAMN!” AJ said, excitedly.

“What’d I tell you?   What did I tell you!   And that, AJ, that’s just a tip of the iceberg!   In fact…” Flair then cupped AJ’s ear, and whispered a message.

“NO WAY!!!”   AJ said, pulling away in disbelief.   “They do that?!”

“Hell, AJ, you could put that lamppost up in there, if you wanted!” Flair shouted, pointing to a rather large, decorative lamp nearby.

“But… wouldn’t that hurt?” AJ asked.

“Probably, but that’s not even the point!   WOO!!!”   Flair answered.   “The point is, if you want something, it’s here.   Anything you ever wanted to try, anything you ever wanted to see, anything you didn’t even think was physically possible… if you can imagine it, or even if you saw it in a porno, it’s here, AJ!   Right here in front of you!”

Suddenly, another elderly man joined Flair and AJ, holding a bottle of wine, and obviously intoxicated.

“Damn, Ric,” the man said to Flair.   “This really takes me back, you know?”

“Tully!” Flair said to the man.   “I want to introduce you to someone.   This, here, is the future of this sport, AJ styling and profiling Styles!   WOO!!!”   As Tully and AJ shook hands, Flair looked to AJ and said, “AJ, this man here was one of the original Four Horsemen!   Me, Tully, and the Andersons, man… we tore it up, all over the world, you know what I’m saying?   WOO!!!   Tully and me go all the way back to 1985, AJ!   When you, by God… when you, AJ, were playing with your ninja turtles, trying to get the girl next door to let you look up her dress, me and Tully, WOO!!!   We were taking over!   World Titles.   TV Titles.   Tag Titles!   We were a lot like you in TNA, brother!   Except, when we did it, NOBODY f*cked with us, you know what I’m saying?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Blanchard,” AJ said, respectfully.

“Mr. Blanchard?!” Flair said to AJ.   “What?”   Flair then grabbed Tully by the head with both hands, presented it to AJ, and said, “Is he your 5^th Grade Teacher or something?”

“I was just…” AJ stammered.

“AJ!!!   You’re one of US now!   You, my boy, you’re one of US!!!   You don’t have to go around, talking nice, calling people ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ and ‘mister’!   You’re a WORLD CHAMPION, AJ!!!   Act like one!” Flair shouted.

“Don’t mind him, AJ,” Tully said, holding his excited and somewhat drunk friend up.   “He’s just drunk!   Aren’t ya, Naich?”

“Wooooooooo…” Ric replied, smiling.   “You bet your sweet ass, I am!”

“I know,” AJ sighed.   “It’s just, all of this so new to me, and I don’t know what to do with it all, you know?   Like someone gave me the keys to a brand new Mercedes, and I don’t even know how to drive it, yet!”

“Don’t worry, kid,” Tully said to AJ.   “You’re with the Horsemen, now.”

“You’re damn right, he is!” Flair shouted.   “AJ, the future, side by side with the most dominant force ever in professional wrestling… You know, those clowns in TNA, how they used to say that Kurt Angle was the best thing going?   They were wrong, AJ!   It’s YOU!   It’s always been you!   And now, with the Nature Boy by your side, with Tully and the Horsemen at your back, nobody, and I mean NO BODY, is ever… EVER, going to f*ck with AJ Styles again!”

“I’d get a second opinion, if I were you, Flair,” a voice said from behind the three.   Flair turned to see as Christopher Daniels slammed him down with a devastating STO.   Tully Blanchard then charged at Daniels as Flair rolled off to the side, but Daniels was too fast for the drunken Horseman, and took Blanchard out with an inverted STO.   Dusting himself off from the ruckus, Daniels quipped, “So much for the Horsemen.”

“What the hell are you doing here, Chris?” AJ asked Daniels, as the party around them seemed to stop, watching the confrontation taking place.

“You know,” Daniels began, “I was just about to ask you the same thing.   For ten years now, you and I have known each other, and, at no time in that ten years did I ever… EVER imagine, for one second, that AJ Styles, the good, Christian, family man I have come to know and respect, would come anywhere near a scene like this!”

“What?   You never thought you’d see AJ Styles at a party?” AJ retorted.

“Party?” Daniels asked, looking around at the gaggle of barely-dressed women, staring incredulously at the scene, afraid to do or say anything at all.   “You’re calling this,” Daniels paused, pointing around at the scantily-clad ladies around, “a party?   Because it looks an awful lot like a goddamned orgy, to me, AJ!   How do you think your wife would feel if she saw you here right now?   Or, for that matter, your son?   You really think you’re setting a good example for him, jetting off to God knows where, doing God knows what with sleaze like them?” Daniels pointed down to the fallen Horsemen, then back to AJ, “You’re better than that, AJ, and you know it!”

“Since when is it any of your business what I do, or who I do it with?   Last I heard, Chris, this was MY LIFE!   MY CHOICE!” AJ shouted back.

“So you’re just going to turn your back on your wife, your family, for what?   A bunch of goddamned sluts?   A big gold belt around your waist?” Daniels asked.

“How about a little bit of respect, Chris,” AJ shouted.   “For eight years, I carried TNA on my back, never asked for a raise, never asked for a day off, never asked for anything more than a chance to prove to the world that AJ Styles was the best!   And what did TNA give me in return?   Nothing!   Every time I managed to claw my way to the top, TNA saw fit to tear me down again.   When TNA first got a National TV deal on Fox Sports Net, I was NWA Champion!   I was the top guy!   And what did TNA do?   They put me in the most confusing gimmick match ever invented, took my title, then threw me back in the X-Division, and told me to start all over again!   And you know what?   I did.   And for a year, Chris, I fought my way back up the mountain.   I beat Abyss.   I beat Jeff Jarrett.   Once again, I was the champ.   So what did TNA do?   Put me back in the King of the Mountain so Raven could steal my title!   And guess what, Chris?   Instead of giving me my rematch with Raven, letting me have my shot to get my title back, just like the contract said I should have, TNA tells me that I have to start all over again, in, you guessed it, the X-Division!   Then, we get on Spike TV.   Where was AJ Styles?   Serving as a lackey to TNA Big Acquisition #37, Christian Cage!   Then, we get Kurt Angle, and it was like I didn’t even exist in the company at all!   Eventually, I’m able to get out from under all the egos, and once again, become a World Title contender.   So guess what TNA does?   That’s right, cut AJ Styles off at the knees, AGAIN!   But, since making me start all over again didn’t work the first two times, TNA just decides to stack the deck against me by bringing together all the old WWE Guys and calling them the Main Event Mafia!   So, for another year, I’m stuck, trying to figure out a way to break out from under the glass ceiling, and guess what?   I did.   Again, this time, becoming TNA World’s Champion, but, because Mama Dixie can’t seem to just be happy that her poster boy is, once again, the world champion, she has to go along and hire that old f*ck, Hulk Hogan to rain on my parade.   Well, guess what?   It’s not going to happen, this time!   That’s why, when Ric Flair came calling, I answered, because no one, NO ONE, is going to take this title from me.   This is my spot, my time, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let anyone take it away from me this time!”

As Daniels heard these words, his heart sank.   The look on his face went from one of anger to pure hopelessness.  

“All this time,” Daniels said with a heavy heart, “you weren’t aligned with Hogan.   You were just… afraid of losing your spot.”

“You thought I was aligned with Hogan?!” AJ shouted.   “What are you, stupid?   Why the hell would I align myself with a guy who’s just out for my spot?   Don’t you watch Impact?   Don’t you listen to the interviews?   Flair hates Hogan.   I hate Hogan!   When that egomaniac first went to WCW, he screwed Flair out of the belt, just like Hogan’s been trying to screw me out of the belt ever since that bastard showed up!   You really think this is some kind of conspiracy to destroy TNA?   Who the hell do you think you are?   Kazarian?   Sure, I expect him to have some crazy conspiracy theory about everything!   He’s been all screwed up in the head ever since Dixie made him put on that Suicide suit!   But you, Chris?   I really thought you were smarter than that…”

“Me too,” Daniels conceded.   “To think, all this time, I thought you were just being manipulated by something bigger.   But… Occam’s Razor… the simplest explanation is the best one…”

“What the hell are you babbling about now, Chris?” AJ asked.

“All this time, you weren’t being bribed or manipulated… you were just… incredibly selfish.   Tomko was right,” Daniels said, unable to believe the words coming out of his own mouth.

“Tomko?!” AJ shouted.   “Tomko wouldn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground!”

“What happened to you, AJ?” Daniels said, pleading with the man he thought he knew to explain himself.   “What happened to the dream?”

“It came true, Chris!” AJ shouted, angry that Daniels still didn’t seem to get the point.   “All of it.   It came true!   This is it!   This is the dream!   This is everything that you, me, all of us, are chasing… this is it!”

“No, AJ,” Daniels said, disgusted.   “This is what you wanted.   Just you.”

At that very moment, both Tully Blanchard and Ric Flair charged and attacked Daniels from behind, taking out his knee, then mercilessly stomping on him as AJ watched.

“You mess with one of us,” Flair shouted, “and you mess with all of us!”   As Blanchard mounted Daniels and began to punch him repeatedly in the face, Flair looked to AJ and said, “Get the belt!”   AJ went over to a nearby table and grabbed the TNA World Title, then ran back over to Flair and Blanchard.   “Tully!   Pick him up!”   Blanchard got up and lifted Daniels up to his knees, holding Daniels’ arms behind his back.

“You see this?” AJ shouted at Daniels, shoving the TNA Title in his face.   “This… is MINE!!!”   AJ then slapped Daniels in the face.

“You tell ‘em, Champ!” Flair shouted, encouraging AJ.

“So you go back to Orlando, and you tell everybody.   Hogan, Bischoff, Nash, Sting, Samoa Joe… hell, even tell your whackjob friend, Suicide, that no one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to take this from me!   NO ONE!!!”   AJ then looked to Tully and said, “Hold ‘em up!”   Tully lifted Daniels to his feet, holding him in place for AJ.   AJ then took the TNA Title and nailed Daniels across the face with it, knocking Daniels to the ground with a furious blow.  

As Daniels lie there, Flair patted AJ on the back, saying, “Damn fine job, there, Champ.   Couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“You know, Ric,” AJ said, “that felt good.   Really good.”

“Thattaboy!” Flair replied.   “That’s what I like to hear!   A champion that doesn’t take any crap, from ANYBODY!   WOO!!!”

Tully Blanchard, wanting to have the last word, looked down on Daniels and said to him, “Nobody f*cks with the Horsemen.   Nobody!”

“Tully!” AJ shouted back.   “You done yet?   I don’t know about you, but the night is young, and AJ’s gots to get laid, you know what I’m saying?”

“What did I tell you, Tully?   What did I tell you?” Flair shouted.   “I swear, I love this kid!   If he was a woman, I might even kiss him!”

“Hey, ladies!” AJ shouted, leaving Daniels behind.   “Who wants to take a ride on the Millennium Force?”

“Millennium Force?” Flair asked Tully.

“It’s a rollercoaster in Cleveland.   Huge,” Tully explained to Flair.

Flair laughed.   “I love it!   AJ, we got to get that on a T-shirt!   It’ll be hot, I’m telling you!   HOT!   WOO!!!”

As the orgy seemed to make its way elsewhere, Daniels was left beaten and alone on the Penthouse floor.   The pain of the beatdown, Daniels could get over, but the pain of the betrayal Daniels had seen tonight would haunt him for years to come.   AJ Styles, the once great Hero of TNA, was now nothing more than a selfish, egomaniacal Main Eventer, greedily clutching to his spot at the top of TNA.   Daniels had come here believing, as many had, that AJ, Flair, and Hogan were all on the same page.   Unfortunately, the truth was far, far worse.   AJ wasn’t a part of the Hogan Regime at all.   AJ was Hogan, and everything Hogan represented.

Sunday night, January 17,^, 2010.   A Hero died in Orlando…