WWE Rumors: AJ Styles Moving To ‘Monday Night Raw’ After ‘WrestleMania’

There are a few men who have benefited from WWE’s brand split more than AJ Styles. During the first half of the year, he had great matches against Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, and others, but becoming the WWE champion and a top guy in WWE didn’t seem to be in the cards until the WWE draft took place in July. After being drafted to SmackDown, AJ Styles became “The Champ That Runs The Camp” for WWE.

The WWE draft turned Styles from a main eventer who was good enough to challenge for the top prize and could be the champion someday to becoming the face of SmackDown and winning the WWE world title after a few months. AJ has been phenomenal all year and especially since the brand split. He will have a lot of votes for WWE’s Superstar of the Year, but he’s also showing no signs of slowing down heading into 2017.

As a matter of fact, The Phenomenal One appears to be heading into bigger and better things. For example, it has been rumored for a few weeks now that Styles is headed into a feud with The Undertaker at the WWE Royal Rumble next month. WWE has yet to confirm that match in any way, but it’ll happen very soon on WWE television. Styles vs. Taker will just be the beginning for him as WWE heads into WrestleMania 33.

There is a lot of speculation about AJ Styles dropping the WWE World Championship to The Undertaker at the WWE Royal Rumble. We could also see John Cena versus Styles wrestle one more time and AJ will drop the title to Cena on the grandest stage of them all. No matter what happens with his title run over the next few months, there is a report claiming something unexpected could happen to him after WrestleMania 33.

According to a new report, WWE is planning to make some major changes shortly after the biggest show of the year, and there could be another WWE draft coming in early 2017. At the very least, there will be some trades between the brands and AJ Styles could be leaving SmackDown for Raw shortly after WrestleMania.

It’s no secret that Styles’ stock has risen dramatically over his first year with WWE. He has been able to turn Vince McMahon into a believer and now it seems that he and top WWE officials want him back on Raw. On paper, changing up both rosters is a good thing because it creates new feuds and keeps WWE programming from getting stale. However, would the move to Raw be good for Styles who has thrived on SmackDown?

First and foremost, AJ Styles could potentially reunite with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to reform “The Club.” Of course, Finn Balor’s involvement with the trio would be brought into question on WWE television and could be the launching point for Balor vs. Styles, which many people feel is inevitable. Even continuing his solo run would be good for him because he would arguably be performing on WWE’s flagship program.

It has been rumored that AJ Styles could be turning face before WrestleMania, which would give him some new angles to work on either Raw or SmackDown. If he is involved with Anderson, Gallows, or Balor, he could be the face in that feud rather than the heel depending on what WWE does with him before the move is made. Styles can always challenge for the WWE Universal Championship at any time as well.

Needless to say, AJ Styles is going to have a strong year on WWE programming in 2017 no matter where he is wrestling. Nothing has been confirmed and likely won’t be until after WrestleMania season, so the best we can do is speculate for the time being. Having said that, another WWE draft could definitely be coming and AJ Styles moving to Monday Night Raw would be only one of many changes coming to WWE next year.

[Featured Image by WWE]