What Will It Mean for Both AEW and WWE if Andrade Reunites with His Real-Life Wife Charlotte Flair at WWE?

Probably Not Much, If We're Being Honest.

Don’t get me wrong: AJ Styles, also known as Andrade, is really good. He's a great promos, a better hand in the ring, and an all-round excellent asset for any promotion. But be honest: where does he fit in WWE’s product?

WWE’s Major Titles Are Spoken For

All of WWE’s major titles are sort of spoken for in the next few months. He can’t feud with Roman Reigns for the United World Wrestling (UWU) title for obvious reasons, or certain storylines that are about to be finished. The advent of CM Punk definitely would prevent Andrade from challenging Seth Rollins in a meaningful way.

Andra could feud with Gunther for the Intercontinental belt, but no one would really buy him as a legitimate threat to that reign. While Andrade could theoretically challenge Logan Paul for the United States title, that prospect invites the question: who is the heel in that feud? Is it Logan, so we ignore the great heel work Andrade does generally, or do we try and turn Logan face? It doesn’t seem to work.

That leaves us with the tag belts, or another run with NXT, none of which really feel worth leaving AEW for.

A Short-Term Impact on WWE and AEW

All of this is to say the following: in the short term at least, it is highly unlikely that Andrade coming to WWE would make a huge impact on either WWE's or AEW's weekly programming. At most, we’re seeing WWE gain a reliable but insignificant midcard hand, which is exactly what Andrade was in AEW.

A Bargaining Chip for Charlotte Flair

AEW didn’t always treat Andrade well, but he actually had a pretty good run in the last few months. It's likely this was done to coax Andrade into staying, but I just don’t believe that he would fare much better in WWE. If WWE do choose to push Andrade heavily, it will really only be as a gotcha to AEW, which doesn't really seem worth rocking the boat on their weekly programming.

The Greatest Impact on WWE

The greatest impact Andrade might have in WWE is as a bargaining chip to keep his wife Charlotte Flair on WWE’s bankroll. No disrespect meant to the man, but Charlotte is far more important to the women's division than Andrade could ever hope to be in the men's. I'll concede that it's possible he may become a prominent member of the Raw or SmackDown roster and he may even win some midcard titles soon. However, a world title seems out of the question at this point.

It’s hard not to feel like he could have achieved this in AEW as well. We’ll have to wait and see if his move proves to help him out, but I don’t see it making a big difference anytime soon.