AJ Styles calls Paul Heyman “a bold-faced liar”

There was lots of talk about AJ Styles being moved from Raw to SmackDown back in May.

The most straight forward explanation was that the blue brand needed star power. The juicier gossip was that Styles was tired of getting harassed for his... let’s call it “eccentric”... view of the (flat) world, and that he refused to work with then-Executive Director Paul Heyman.

AJ addressed both of those rumors in his final Mixer stream yesterday (July 9). He shot down the former, and poured fuel on the fire of the latter while using it to help sell the PPV his Good Brothers’ Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows are having on Aug. 1, Talk N’Shop-A-Mania.

“There were some rumors going around that AJ Styles left Raw to go to SmackDown because he was being bullied... That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I mean, I’m a grown man. If there was some bullying going on that upset me enough to leave Raw and go to SmackDown, I would handle it. And whether I got my tail beat or not, I’d still handle it. I’m a grown man. So, I’ll just throw that out there.”

“When it came to the rumor about Paul Heyman and me being upset with him because he didn’t take up for Gallows and Anderson before they got released, that’s not what it was at all - not even close. I’ll give you a snippet of what me, Gallows, and Anderson already know - he’s a liar. Now you know. I’m sure you’ve heard that before if you go back to ECW days, I’m sure you’ll hear that. He’s a bold-face liar. So, that’s my take on that. I will let Gallows and Anderson [cover it].”

The specific report Styles refers to came from Dave Meltzer, who said AJ was “furious” Heyman didn’t fight harder to prevent his friends from being released on April 15. While that’s apparently not it, it doesn’t mean the Intercontinental champ didn’t find other reasons to distrust Paul E.

What were those reasons?

You’ll have to be a good brother and pony up $15 to find out. Or wait until quotes from Talk N’Shop-A-Mania flood the internet.