AJ Styles Confirms He Moved To WWE SmackDown Because He Didn't Want To Be Around Paul Heyman

Over the weekend, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson hosted a special edition of the Talk'N Shop podcast, Countdown To F#cktown. During the podcast, they discussed their releases from WWE and said they were told by someone backstage that them being let go was "inspired" by then Raw Executive Director Paul Heyman. The Good Brothers revealed they told AJ Styles about this, but when The Phenomenal One asked Heyman, he denied having anything to do with it. Gallows and Anderson's source reiterated Heyman was lying which prompted AJ to ask Vince McMahon directly, who said The Good Brothers weren't on his original release list and that it "was a Heyman thing."

A report from Dave Meltzer on the F4W Online forums in mid-June noted Styles was traded to Friday Night SmackDown because he was furious with Heyman and blamed him for The Good Brothers releases.

AJ discussed why he moved to the blue brand during a recent Twitch stream and confirmed he left Raw because he couldn't be around Heyman after he lied to him and claimed numerous people in WWE despise the former Raw Executive Director.

"The reason why I went to SmackDown was because I couldn't stand looking at him," the Intercontinental champion said. "I just can't stand a liar. I'm a grown man, you're a grown man, why lie? You didn't even have to say anything. So, I just couldn't stand to look at him and I was just like, 'Well, you know, if and when the opportunity if SmackDown is available, I can't be around Paul Heyman. I just can't stand him. But if there's ever an opportunity, I don't mind coming over, that'd be great. I don't want to do anything now because if my son plays football Friday nights I want to be there.'

"I talked to a lot of guys about this situation and you wouldn't believe how many people that I worked with despised this guy because of his lies, and he'd find ways to throw them under the bus when he screwed up. He would try to throw them under the bus so they would get in trouble. I heard this from several, several different people. Like, it was almost kind of hard to find someone who liked him. And I didn’t know this, I just assumed everybody liked him and I was the only one.

"But, I think the reason why Vince is a very smart man, and he can see through a lot of crap and I think he finally saw what everybody already knew and he said, 'You know what man? You've done some great things in the past but you're just not well-liked here. Maybe hit the bricks and we'll let you be the advocate for Brock Lesner."

Styles later added: "Yeah, oh yeah, (Bryan) Alvarez seems to think Vince knew he was letting go Gallows and Anderson the entire time. It's Vince's call. Speaking of Alvarez, I don't know if this is true but I heard he called me a dumba--. If this is indeed true, if he indeed called me that, let me smarten that turd up. I know who makes the calls. I know what goes on. I know it was Vince, but it was the man that lied to me and us about everything and he was the one that helped put them on the list. He was the one that put them on the list. They weren't even on the list. Paul Heyman. So, that's what I'm talking about. I know what's going on Alvarez. Stop being a d****e."