After defeating Abyss at Lockdown to become the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Styles won his third world championship from Jeff Jarrett at Hard Justice, which he lost to Raven in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. Styles then entered the TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, which granted the winner a shot at the X Division Championship. Styles defeated Matt Bentley in the quarter-finals and Petey Williams in the semi-finals, but lost to Samoa Joe at Sacrifice. As Christopher Daniels (the reigning X Division champion) had interfered in the match, TNA 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.