In an interview with Busted Open Radio, AJ Styles discussed TNA low-balling him back in 2013. 

"Well I was scared, I didn’t know what was going to happen, nothing’s promised. I had no idea where this was going to lead. I think at that time, my ego was crushed because basically TNA had said, ‘Listen, you’re really not worth the money that we’re paying you, no matter how hard you work.’ So yeah, my ego took a blow there and I had a chip on my shoulder. But it was still scary because if it was just me, this would have been easy, I probably would have left TNA a long time ago, but at the time, I had three kids that I had to support, and then my wife, and take care of them, that’s scary not knowing if you’re gonna be able to put food on the table."

Thanks to 411Mania for transcription.