During an appearance on After The Bell, AJ Styles talked about moving to SmackDown from RAW:
“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.”
“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.”
