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Brand splits and merges have already happened several times in WWE since the start of our millennium. As time passes by, we, as the audience. are getting more and more familiar with these forms of the company’s roster structure changes.
For the past several years, WWE has proved their unwillingness (or, some may say, inability) to stick completely to either of these formulas of keeping two separate brands or having one joined roster.
When the 'Wild Card Rule’ was introduced on the May 6th, 2019 episode of RAW, the confines of this show's roster and the SmackDown Live’s one, that was established way back in 2016 was severely blurred.
Despite the fact, that it was never officially announced, WWE since technically had one joined list of Superstars for both of these brands. With the rebranded SmackDown moving to FOX, it does not come as a very big surprise, that we are about to see another brand split in the form of the Draft 2019 in mid-October.
Since the summer of 2016, WWE has made many interesting roster moves for their superstars in the original Draft and in following Superstar Shake-up annual events. Some of them have even appeared in the form of unscheduled wrestlers’ returns mid-year. With the Draft 2019 approaching shortly, WWE has some excellent roster transitions in their past to learn from now and to try to outperform themselves in.
For us to understand the situation better and to get ready for an upcoming Draft, I decided to start a brand new series of articles called “WWE’s brilliant recent roster moves”, in which we will be looking at some of the great examples of their Superstars switching brands discussing why was it necessary at that time, how was it followed up and, most importantly, how exactly was it beneficial for a given wrestler or even the whole roster.
AJ Styles before switching brands
AJ Styles had his impressive 371-day WWE Championship reign ended surprisingly when he lost it to then turning heel Daniel Bryan on the November 13 episode of SmackDown Live.
Since then, he continued to feud with Bryan over it in different forms until he lost his last opportunity to reclaim that title in the Elimination Chamber Match on the respective pay-per-view this February. The Phenomenal One then entered a decent but not very meaningful feud with Randy Orton, that culminated in their match at WrestleMania 35, which Styles won. After this event, he took a week-long break because of what was reported as a hip injury.
AJ Styles was, without a doubt, an essential staple of SmackDown Live since the very beginning of the last brand split in 2016. Being featured in the Blue Brand’s main event picture for almost whole of his tenure there and collecting a couple of United States Title reigns and WWE Championships on his way, The Phenomenal One has done pretty much everything there was to do on that show.
It would have been not an easy task to book even a performer as great as AJ Styles in a somewhat exciting way on that same brand even for one more year.
How it went on and what followed up
On the first Superstar Shake-up 2019 edition of RAW, on the 15th of April, AJ Styles surprisingly so, joined Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in their match against the trio of Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley, thus confirming himself being drafted to RAW.
Following week, Styles defeated Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe in a Triple Threat Match and Corbin in the main event of that night to earn himself a Universal Championship opportunity against Seth Rollins at the Money in the Bank 2019 pay-per-view next month.
After losing this title-shot and being attacked by Baron Corbin next week, AJ Styles was absent on RAW for four weeks due to some of his injuries. The Phenomenal One then made his return at the end of June and entered a feud with at that time United States Champion Ricochet.
Styles went on to reunite The Club (now known as the 'O.C.’) with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, turning heel in the process. At the Extreme Rules 2019 PPV, he captured his third United States Championship and has since successfully defended it against the likes of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, sometimes with help of the rest of the 'O.C'.
What was so brilliant about it
As was stated before, AJ Styles has already realized most of the possible creative plans for him on the SmackDown Live brand before Superstar Shake-up 2019. Letting him ‘trading waters’ there even for one more year would have not only damaged his momentum and presence but also wasted some of his precious but limited time in the ring.
To see The Phenomenal One appearing on RAW felt like something unseen before and exciting from the very beginning of his tenure there. The move on itself was enough to refresh his career in this unfamiliar environment, not to mention the decent World Championship program, that he got there right away.
Reuniting AJ Styles with The O.C. was quite an inspired move. The team of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had arguably never felt as relevant as this summer since their split with Styles back in 2016. This time this alliance helped them win their second RAW Tag Team Championship and also affected their choice to recently resign with WWE.
Moving AJ Styles away from the main event was not an obvious decision but the one that paid off. Sometimes it can only turn the audience away from a performer if he is present for too long in the show’s upper card. Being in position in which he is right now, Styles can work with more young up-and-coming talents teaching them a thing or two along the way and putting them over in the process. As the current champion, AJ continues to return the U. S. Title its lost prestige - this Championship now feels arguably the most important since Styles feuded over it with Kevin Owens back in the summer of 2017.
WWE should consider The Phenomenal One’s roster move as an example looking at such main-eventers as Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, and Daniel Bryan come this year's Draft.
