Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko added Styles to the resultant title bout. At Unbreakable, Styles defeated Samoa Joe and Daniels in a critically lauded three-way match to become the X Division Champion for a fifth time. At Bound for Glory, Styles successfully defended the title against Christopher Daniels in the second thirty-minute Iron Man. The following month at Genesis, Styles successfully defended the title against Petey Williams. Styles then started a feud with Joe, claiming that he had broken the unwritten "code of the X Division" by brutally beating Daniels. At Turning Point, Styles lost the X Division Championship to Joe. Styles was unsuccessful in retaining the title in a triple threat match, also featuring Daniels, at Against All Odds, and in an Ultimate X match at Destination X, which Daniels won. After Daniels lost the title back to Joe, Styles joined Daniels to challenge America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. After losing to America's Most Wanted in title matches on two occasions, Styles and Daniels won the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary. They successfully retained against The Latin American Xchange (Homicide and Hernandez) (LAX) at Hard Justice, only to lose the title to them in a Border Brawl on the August 24 episode of Impact!. They regained the title at No Surrender, but dropped them back to LAX at Bound for Glory in a Six Sides of Steel match. On the November 2 episode of Impact!, Styles pinned Chris Sabin to begin his sixth reign as the new X Division Champion. The match was also the quarter-finals of the Fight for the Right tournament for number one contendership to Sting's NWA World Heavyweight Championship; Styles won the semi-final match on the November 9 Impact! but was pinned in the finals by Abyss. On the November 16 episode of Impact!, Styles lost the X Division Championship to Daniels in a three-way match when Daniels scored the roll-up pinfall on Sabin. At Genesis, Styles lost to Christian Cage, which Styles blamed on Daniels, who had tried to intervene on his behalf. Styles next feuded with Rhino for attempting to reconcile him with Daniels and at Turning Point he beat Rhino, and on the December 22 episode of Impact!, Styles and Samoa Joe defeated Rhino and Kurt Angle. Rhino then defeated Styles in a Last Man Standing match at Final Resolution and at Destination X in