“We always bring out the best in each other and have had so many great matches,” Styles said. “I think Christopher Daniels is my rivalry when it comes to professional wrestling.”

Daniels has been a big part of Styles life, which will be chronicled in a future autobiography. It was announced in November that the TNA original had signed a book deal through VIP Ink Publishing. The future tome will chronicle the devout Christian’s life inside and outside the ring.

“I worked on it so very little at this point,” Styles said. “…I look at myself as a pretty boring guy, but a lot of people don’t see it that way from where I came from as a kid to where I am now. Things have changed, so I think people are interested in that change and how AJ Styles is outside the ring. I look forward to doing it and hope to get it done sooner rather than later. I hope to have the time to really make it something worthwhile.”

Sometimes his faith and beliefs contrast with some of the more controversial storylines Styles has been put in during his TNA career. Look no further than his involvement in the Claire Lynch storyline or his rule-breaking stint with Flair.

“Ric Flair was kind of difficult to get around trying to be like Ric Flair, but not being like Ric Flair,” Styles said. “Most of the times it’s a heel turn, but let’s face it, the nice guy thing is the heel in professional wrestling. If you don’t cuss or don’t say whatever, you’re looked at as a heel…It’s not as bad as it looks. Even when I was with Christian, we were heels, and I was the goofy one. It was easy for me to do…It depends on what character they want me to portray.”

When the Gainesville, Ga. native returns from TV and the road, it baffles him when people can’t see the difference between the entertainment and the real person.

“It just goes to show that people want to believe this stuff, which is not a bad thing,” Styles said. “If more people did, it would be a lot easier. We could stay in a headlock for 20 minutes like we used to. People have asked my wife what she thinks about [things that happen on TV with me]. She is like, ‘What? Why would you ask that?’ There is Allen Jones, and there is AJ Styles. They are two different guys. When I leave work, AJ Styles stays there. It’s not that hard to separate the two for me.

“The only time I take AJ Styles out is when I’m meeting a fan, and I will always be good to them, whether I’m a heel or a face. It’s kind of crazy sometimes that people can’t separate the two. I think I separate them better than everyone. Some wrestlers run into the problem where they couldn’t separate who they were in the ring and who they were outside the ring. That’s a shame.”

• TNA trimmed next year's pay-per-view schedule from 12 to 10. Against All Odds in February and No Surrender in September were cut, giving more time to create a buzz for Lockdown and Bound for Glory.

“I think it’s a great idea reducing it to whatever number they decided on or less,” Styles said. “I would love for our pay-per-views to get reduced to four. You have four big pay-per-views a year and just build up those pay-per-views to something spectacular, but that is not up to me…To me, it’s a great idea. It gives more stories to these pay-per-views and gets more people to tune in. The thing about pay-per-views these days is that you can just get them on the Internet for free. That is the problem.”