Paul Heyman won't expose the magic trick.
After Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson were released by WWE in April 2020, AJ Styles had harsh words for Paul Heyman, who was the executive director of WWE Raw at the time. Styles blamed Heyman for their release, calling him a liar, and said he went to SmackDown because he couldn't stand to look at Heyman in the face.
Speaking to Inside The Ropes, Heyman addressed AJ's comments by saying, "AJ Styles has not said that we weren’t on the same page or that we clashed. AJ Styles has been quoted as blaming me for the departure from WWE of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. That is what AJ Styles has been quoted as saying. He has never made a statement regarding whether or not our collaboration on Monday Night RAW was to his liking or not—and if he wishes to, I’d be happy to accept whatever assessment he had on our time together behind the scenes.”
Speaking about the releases of Gallows and Anderson, Heyman wouldn't quite elaborate on what happened and what led to their departure.
“In terms of what AJ Styles said regarding the departure of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, I am still of the old school belief—that I would suggest is also a new school belief—what goes on behind those closed doors, in those creative meetings, as far as I’m concerned, is privileged conversation. It’s not for public consumption. Triple H had a very interesting analogy the other day that he and Stephanie love to take their kids to magic shows and that the kids are fascinated by the magic that happens in front of their eyes, despite the fact that they understand it’s a trick. And even though you know it’s a trick, no one wants to see the wires that lift the magician up in the air and bring the magician back down, and I really enjoyed that analogy," he said. "Whatever you think of sports entertainment, I’m not here to expose the wires, so whatever happened between Gallows and Anderson happened behind the scenes, behind closed doors in a meeting that I’m not going to expose to the public because it was an inner sanctum meeting with the chairman of the board, Vincent Kennedy McMahon. And unless Vince wants to talk about it publicly, I’m not going to be the one to expose what happened, why, and what the other conversations were in that meeting.”
Heyman is currently working with Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown with Styles is part of WWE Raw.
Meanwhile, Gallows & Anderson are the reigning IMPACT Tag Team Champions, are regularly featured on AEW television, and have made appearances for NJPW STRONG.
