A . J . Styles & Tomko A . J . Styles and Tomko are former tag team partners in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) who were a part of two factions together , Christian ' s Coalition and the Angle Alliance . In addition to being involved in many a headline match due to their associations with Christian Cage or Kurt Angle , Styles and Tomko are notable in history for their run as TNA World Tag Team Champions . Stopped at 184 days , it stood for three years as the longest run in the history of that championship , and second longest of all tag title runs ( only to America ' s Most Wanted ' s 250 - day sixth reign with the NWA World Tag Team Championship while TNA was still using that title ) in the history of the company , until Beer Money , Inc . , in the midst of their fourth reign , pushed it back a spot in both categories on July 13 , 2011 . History . Formation . By early 2007 , following Tomko ' s recently - reprised - from - WWE role as Christian Cage ' s enforcer resulting in Christian regaining the NWA World Heavyweight Championship , Christian would expand his leadership into a full coalition to enforce his reign . While Scott Steiner would officially come on board as Cage ' s " consultant " , recently turned villain A . J . Styles would align himself with Christian on occasion . Styles and Tomko , however , would have yet to interact , as Styles ' appearances alongside Christian came without Tomko present . Immediately following Destination X 2007 , the champion Christian and Kurt Angle were informed by TNA management director Jim Cornette that they would each be captaining five - man teams to compete in a Lethal Lockdown cage match at the upcoming pay - per - view " Lockdown " . In the upcoming weeks , Christian ' s Coalition , which had somewhat broken down by Destination X , officially formed for the second time in as many months under the name Team Cage , also including Abyss and Steiner along with Styles and Tomko ( the latter whose rejoining finally united the duo ) , while Team Angle went on to consist of four recent rivals of the Team Cage members ( Angle included ) and Jeff Jarrett . At the match itself , Team Angle won when Jarrett hit Abyss with a thumbtack - loaded guitar and let Sting make the pin to become number one contender to Cage ' s title . From there , the collective would systematically betray and destroy Abyss , and eventually Scott Steiner and Tomko ' s trust issues would cause Steiner to leave to team with his brother Rick , all of which in effect left only Styles and Tomko to carry on together behind Cage as Christian ' s Coalition . Growing Feuds . Tension would develop between Styles , Tomko , and Cage heading into the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary , which all three men were in qualifying for . On May 31 , 2007 , Styles had originally been scheduled to face Jeff Jarrett in a qualifying match , but since Jarrett couldn ' t appear due to his wife ' s death , Tomko was put in his place . After Styles defeated Tomko thanks to " botched " interference from Christian Cage , Tomko needed convincing from Cage to stay on board . On the June 14 , 2007 episode of " Impact " , Styles and Tomko showed that they were once again a united front , helping Cage defeat Abyss by disqualification to get into King of the Mountain after Abyss hit him with a steel chair . The group came out empty - handed at Slammiversary . Styles and Tomko , whose feud with Sting and Abyss was less connected to Cage than usual for a while , would lose to the avengers at Victory Road . After being attacked by Judas Mesias and the Robert Roode - assisted Coalition , Sting and Abyss overcame Styles and Cage to secure a contract for an Abyss vs . Christian match at Hard Justice 2007 with the help of the TNA debut of " The Punisher " Andrew Martin to counteract Tomko ' s Coalition enforcer role . On the " Impact ! " prior to Hard Justice , Jim Cornette announced that Christian ' s Coalition would take on Abyss , Sting and Andrew Martin in a Doomsday Chamber of Blood match , a barbed wire steel cage match in which a person could only be pinned once they were bleeding , at Hard Justice in which the wrestler who scores the pinfall for his team in the match would receive the next title shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship . At Hard Justice , Styles was pinned by Abyss as the Coalition lost . Styles and Tomko next accompanied Christian in his feud with Samoa Joe over who the " real World Heavyweight Champion " was . TNA World Tag Team Champions . At No Surrender , thanks in part to some unsung help at early points from Styles ' former tag team partner Christopher Daniels , Styles and Tomko won a ten - team Gauntlet Match to become the number one contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory against the team of Adam " Pacman " Jones and Ron Killings . At Bound For Glory , Styles and Tomko defeated Killings and Rasheed Lucius " Consequences " Creed , Pacman ' s surprise substitute , for the TNA Tag Team Titles . At this point they were still solidly Christian ' s enforcers in his feud with Samoa Joe and later his Fight for the Right Tournament efforts , but were also branching out on their own and establishing their act as a tag team , even becoming somewhat popular with the audience despite their villainous status . After retaining the tag titles against The Steiner Brothers at Genesis , Styles and Tomko came out during Christian ' s number one contendership ladder match with Kaz right as Cage was about to win , despite his specific instructions not to . This distracted Cage , costing him the match . Immediately afterwards , they assisted Kurt Angle in retaining his TNA World Heavyweight Championship , officially joining Kurt and his wife Karen in the Angle Alliance . The hopeless dreamer Styles and major skeptic Tomko from then on would attempt to be part of both the Angle Alliance and the Christian Coalition , despite the clashing egos and animosity between Christian and the Angles . It was implied during that time that Karen , who ' d been shown on - screen to have a seducing effect on A . J . on occasion , conned him into thinking this union was possible . On the December 6 , 2007 " Impact ! " , when Cage ' s leadership - conditioned attempt to follow Robert Roode into accepting Angle ' s offer to join the group backfired after one match and led to his betrayal at the hands of Angle and Roode , Styles tried in vain to hold the assailants back by himself as Tomko walked away from the situation . At that point , Cage was out of the Alliance , but Styles and Tomko ' s status was unknown regarding both the Alliance or the Coalition . On the following episode of " Impact ! " Cage was again attacked by Angle and Roode but this time an upset looking Styles just watched from the ring apron . In following weeks , Tomko made it clear to Styles that they needed to choose sides , and while Styles was indecisive , Tomko firmly established his own foothold in the situation by leaving both the Coalition and the Alliance on the January 3 , 2008 episode of " Impact ! " . Styles later succumbed to Karen ' s seductions once again and chose to join Angle at the Final Resolution pay - per - view by helping Angle retain the TNA World Championship against Cage . Following Final Resolution , Angle and Styles continued to try to recruit Tomko , only to be rebuffed each time , eventually leading to Tomko attacking Angle after he insulted Tomko ' s wife over Karen and appearing to side with Christian leading up to the title rematch between Angle and Cage . At Against All Odds , Tomko and Styles surprisingly showed no signs of conflict in their defense of the Tag Team Titles , and in the end Tomko cost Cage the championship again in the main event . He subsequently joined the Angle Alliance on the next " Impact ! " , his reasoning being simply because there was strength in numbers and he was tired of years of yet - incompletely - fulfilled promises of stardom under Christian Cage . At Destination X , the Angle Alliance faced the makeshift " Unlikely Alliance " consisting of the vengeful Christian , Samoa Joe , and Kevin Nash . The Angle Alliance fell as Tomko tapped out to Joe that night . The next Thursday on " Impact ! " , Tomko was announced the captain of the villainous Lethal Lockdown team . Tomko and his pre - recruited teammate Styles would enlist Team 3D and James Storm in the coming weeks , only to lose to Christian ' s team of Nash , Rhino , Sting , and Matt Morgan . On the April 17 , episode of " Impact ! " Styles and Tomko finally lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Super Eric and Kaz . Afterwards they complained to Jim Cornette about the match , and in the end Super Eric and Kaz were stripped of the championships due to Super Eric being unable to realize he and Eric Young ( who was slated as Kaz ' s partner ) were one and the same . The Deuces Wild tournament was organized , but Tomko had been suspended by TNA ( due to no - showing a TNA Fanfest Event - his absence was explained in the storyine as having been injured in a shoot fight ) . Therefore , Styles competed in the tournament alongside Super Eric . Falling outs . On the May 22 , 2008 episode of " Impact ! " , after Tomko interrupted an interview to interrogate Styles about teaming with Super Eric , Styles quit the Angle Alliance , including his team with Tomko , in a fit induced by Styles having faced many pointed fingers in recent weeks mainly pertaining to his relationship with Karen . From there , Tomko would align with Kurt Angle and characters such as Booker T , Team 3D , and The Beautiful People in a loose collective self - identified as " the Bad Guys " . That same night , and the following week , Angle , Booker , Team 3D and Tomko ended the show by viciously attacking Styles ( and Cage in the second week ) , marking the official disbandment of Styles and Tomko as a tag team . Tomko departed TNA in July 2008 , appearing once against Samoa Joe on the way out , while A . J . ' s rivalry with Kurt Angle would continue for over a year , most notably through his constant role in resistance efforts against the Main Event Mafia . On the December 17 , 2009 edition of " Impact ! " , the newly - reigning World Heavyweight Champion Styles and Tomko teamed with Angle , Bobby Lashley , and Abyss , and came out victorious in a 10 - man tag team match - Tomko ' s official return match with TNA after over a year away - when Styles pinned Brutus Magnus of the British Invasion . This loose alliance wouldn ' t last , however , as Tomko later revealed himself to have been the masked man in black assaulting A . J . for months after Bound for Glory . He did it to score his former partner ' s attention and a title shot , which he successfully gained but lost .