On a recent After The Bell podcast, Corey Graves asked AJ Styles about his return to SmackDown after being traded to the brand. Styles said he needed a change of scenery after the releases of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

“I mean it’s different for me. This is moving to FOX,” Styles stated. “I think they’re doing a really good job. So I’m excited about that, to be working with those guys, and it’s just doing something different man. It’s good for me. I needed a change, and I don’t mean to harp on this, but losing Gallows and Anderson really hurt me. So getting away from RAW helps me get over it. I don’t know that I’ll get over it, but it helps change the atmosphere around me, to do something different because my whole time on RAW was with them. So getting away from that and getting to SmackDown, where I’ve had a lot of success, it’s a good thing.”

Styles talked about his frustration over not doing more for Gallows and Anderson. He said that he was like an older brother to them and feels that he let them down.

“Looking back, I was the one that kind of brought their names to come to WWE and everything,” Styles reflected. “So when they got released, I immediately feel responsible for them because I helped them get here, and I wanted them to stay. I feel like if I had encouraged them to stay, maybe they would be fine right now. So a lot of that fell on me, and it and it destroyed me.

“I feel like I let them down, and I talked to them about this. I talked about it on the Mixer channel on the day after it was done. I was just crushed. I’m the oldest in this group, and they’re my little brothers. I didn’t take care of them, and that really bothered me. It really really bothers me. It still does.”

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to After The Bell