AJ Styles reveals why "getting away" from RAW has been good for him 

Last Friday, AJ Styles shocked the wrestling world when he made the jump from RAW to SmackDown. On his first night back on the blue brand, the Phenomenal One defeated arch-rival, Shinsuke Nakamura, to advance in the ongoing Intercontinental Championship tournament. Recently, Styles revealed that the move to Friday nights helped him cope with the sudden departures of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

The 2-time WWE Champion, during his appearance on Corey Grave's After the Bell podcast, had this to say about returning to the house that he built four years ago.

"It's moving to FOX and I think they're doing a good job, so I'm excited about that. Doing something different is good for me. I needed a change. Losing Gallows & Anderson really hurt me. Getting away from RAW helps me get over it -- I don't know if I'll get over it, but it helps change the atmosphere around me and to do something different. My whole time on RAW was basically with them. To get away from that and get to SmackDown, where I've had a lot of success, it's a good thing (h/t: Fightful).

While explaining why he feels responsible for his OC stablemates' releases, Styles had the following to say:

I brought their names to WWE and when they got released, I immediately felt responsible for them because I helped them get here and I wanted them to stay. I thought, if I hadn't encouraged them to stay maybe they wouldn't be behind right now. A lot of it fell on me and I felt like I let them down. I talked to them about this and I was just crushed. I'm the oldest and I didn't take care of them. That really bothered me. And it still does.

WWE Budget Cuts force the OC to break up

AJ Styles, along with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, faced the wrath of The Undertaker in the first-ever Boneyard match at Wrestlemania 36 on April 4, 2020. 11 days later, the "Good Brothers" were released from their WWE contracts.

BREAKING NEWS: @AJStylesOrg has been traded to #SmackDown for future considerations. pic.twitter.com/ynAxeLGqZK

— WWE (@WWE) May 23, 2020

While Gallows and Anderson are currently awaiting the expiration of their respective 90-Day No Compete Clauses, AJ Styles is in pursuit of gold on SmackDown. It will be interesting to see which promotion scoops up the two-time RAW Tag Team Champions.

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