AJ Styles Explains Why He Turned Heel and Reformed The Club After WWE Raw

AJ Styles closed out Monday Night Raw this week by turning heel on Ricochet and realigning himself with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as The Club. Together the three viciously beat down the reigning United States Champion and closed out the show by throwing up the “Too Sweet” hand sign from their days together in the Bullet Club over in New Japan. Shortly after the show Styles hopped his Mixer live-streaming account, where he gave a brief explanation about why he turned before starting a gaming session.

“So, it is what it is,” Styles began. “Some of you may have not likes it. Some of you may have absolutely loved it. And here’s the one thing that I know. There’s not a lot of people in this world that you can trust. But I do trust my family.

He was then asked by his cohost what game he wanted to play. He chose A Way Out, playing back into his explanation.

“And here’s why. I feel like AJ Styles was stuck in this, ‘I’m going to smile all the time, I’m going to be the nicest guy in the room even when I don’t feel like it, when I’m tired. He’s going to be this guy’ [mode]. I felt like I was in prison. And I just broke out.”

Styles clarified that he would continue his post-Raw live gaming streams without acting in his new heel persona.

“… but the character? Oh man, the guy you see on Raw has done a 180,” he said. “The guy on Raw, the AJ Styles that’s now in The Club, I’m just letting you guys know I’m taking over. That’s what’s going to happen. That AJ Styles isn’t going to put up with any crap. He’s going to be the guy that drops dudes on their face with a Styles Clash or rocks with a Phenomenal Forearm or crushes their calf. That’s the kind of thing I do. I’m not going to change how I wrestle, I’ve always wrestled aggressive. So that will never change.”

The former WWE Champion also took to Twitter to celebrate the reunion.

Shortly after Gallows and Anderson joined Styles in WWE back in April 2016, the three formed a heel trio that would feud with the likes of Roman Reigns and John Cena before being separated by the brand split. Styles would remain a heel up until April of the next year and hold the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. Meanwhile, Gallows and Anderson had a brief run as Raw Tag Team Champions that ended at WrestleMania 33.