Three of WWE’s big brands have undergone major changes in recent months as Raw, SmackDown and NXT have all moved to new homes. Recently it was reported that SmackDown is going through another shake up as Road Dogg Brian James was appointed Co-Lead Writer for the blue brand.
It appears that some fans aren’t happy about Road Dogg joining the writing team for SmackDown, and AJ Styles took notice of the backlash. Recently The Phenomenal One took to social media to point that during his previous run as a writer for SmackDown, Road Dogg was working under a different regime.
“Before judging this guy from his past performance as the head writer. Just know that there was a man who picked it apart to the point that it was no longer his ideas anymore. ”
Before judging this guy from his past performance as the head writer. Just know that there was a man who picked it apart to the point that it was no longer his ideas anymore. https://t.co/WnDXRjyuEI
— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) February 17, 2025
In December of 2016 it was reported that Road Dogg had joined the SmackDown writing team and he went on to become one of the lead writers for the show. Following WrestleMania 35 he resigned from his role as head writer for the blue brand.
It’s certainly no big secret that Vince McMahon would often make last minute changes to WWE shows when he was still with the company. Now that Triple H is in charge of creative that doesn’t seem to be happening as often, so it will be interesting to see how things develop on SmackDown in the months to come.