Luke Gallows And Karl Anderson Detail Events That Led To Their WWE Returns
To paraphrase a classic song, many of us get by with "a little help from our friends," which is certainly the case with AJ Styles and The OC. When "The Phenomenal One" was dealing with The Judgment Day, led by fellow Bullet Club alum Finn Balor, he put in a call to some old friends and brought The Good Brothers back to the WWE to help him in his battle before adding "Michin" Mia Yim to their ranks.
Although, things almost played out very differently for Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. In the first new episode of their podcast "Talk'n Shop" in a year, "The Machine Gun" and "The Big LG" pulled back the curtain on their WWE comeback on "Raw" in Brooklyn's Barclays Center on October 10, 2022.
First, they shared how they didn't think this was in the cards for them. "We never leave a door fully closed, which we've proven with this return [that] we thought we'd never make," said Gallows.
Anderson then expanded on that notion. "It was a pretty surreal day because we thought that WWE was in the rearview mirror. That after our exit and after some of the things we were doing, we weren't going to be welcomed back with open arms, but we were. Business was business and we worked it all out. I think we made one of the greatest returns of all time ... [But] we're glad we left, we're glad we went [to Impact], we're glad that we came back."
Almost Too Sweet
The multi-time tag team champions revealed some specific details about their return to the red brand, including the fact that it almost happened one week earlier in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Styles was originally meant to fly to Kyoto, Japan first and help Anderson retain the NEVER Openweight Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
The Good Brothers were then travel to Canada and return the favor against Judgment Day. However, the logistics of the situation wouldn't have worked as the team couldn't get to the arena in Edmonton from NJPW dates in the UK in time for that to happen successfully. But everything still ended up working out for the best.
"We were happy that logistically, with our prior commitments, that it didn't work out," said Gallows. "Not because we don't like Edmonton. We had a great time in Edmonton, but we knew that the New York faithful would give it to us ... New York is a hot place to make a comeback. We've been lucky with two WWE debuts together. The first being the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the return in the Barclays Center in New York City."
Now going with Plan B, Gallows and Anderson flew into Washington, DC to meet up with Styles and his bus to drive to New York City overnight. They were very careful not to leave the bus and give away the surprise. However, an eagle-eyed fan at a rest stop recognized the logo on the bus, caught a glimpse of its occupants, and broke the news online. Regardless, Brooklyn still erupted when The OC was reunited.