A.J. Styles threw up a "too sweet" hand gesture to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson as he walked toward them in a back hallway, shortly after hearing his name announced as Smackdown's No. 2 draft pick on July 19.

"See you later Big Al," the approaching Gallows replied to his friend Styles (real name Allen Jones) as he returned their trademark gesture and broke some bad news. "We just got drafted to Raw."

"You're freaking kidding me," said a visibly stunned and confused Styles, in scenes captured on WWE Network's Draft Center live broadcast.

"No I'm not -- real life. Hold down the blue, good brother."

Styles ran his hands through his hair and noted, "Looks like I'm on my own."

In the storyline-driven world of professional wrestling, it is easy to overlook the bonds forged between the men and women navigating WWE's nearly perpetual live schedule together on the road -- athletes who likely see one another more than they do their own families.

Having formed a strong bond in similar circumstances while the trio was in New Japan Pro Wrestling as members of the Bullet Club -- the promotion's hottest act to this day -- Styles, Gallows and Anderson all signed with WWE in early 2016. Each of them had accomplished a lot before signing that contract; Styles was a five-time world champion in TNA, but had completely reinvented and reinvigorated himself as a two-time IWGP heavyweight champion in New Japan, while Gallows and Anderson were three-time IWGP heavyweight tag-team champions.

Styles debuted a few months before Gallows and Anderson as part of the 2016 Royal Rumble match, but within a few months they joined "The Phenomenal One" on the WWE roster. The trio had just started to revisit the collective dominance they had enjoyed in Japan on WWE programming when the brand separation draft broke them back up.

"Yeah it was a shock, for sure," Gallows told ESPN of his and Anderson's separation from Styles. "But we definitely turned it into a positive. It's been a positive for A.J., as he won the [WWE] title at Backlash on Sunday. We're wrestling for the tag-team championships coming up at Clash of Champions. So I think it was a necessary evil, in a way.

AJ Styles captured the WWE Championship at Backlash. @WWEUniverse

"At first, we might not have looked at it so positive, but now we're all getting along," Gallows said. "We talk to [Styles] every day. We text with him every day. The friendship's always gonna be there. That's something that will never be broken. This was just something for us career-wise I think had to happen."

But Gallows "absolutely" feels The Club could reunite on the same brand in the future. "We're very young in our new WWE careers," he said. "Creatively, there's definitely room for that to happen again, and I think and hope that it will."

Styles, Gallows and Anderson might have left Japan behind, but while they're carrying the Bullet Club's legacy in their own way in the WWE, its presence is still massive all over the world.

Finn Balor, known as Prince Devitt before his signing with WWE, was a three-time IWGP junior heavyweight champion in New Japan. Balor carried NXT as the longest reigning champion in the brand's history with a 292-day reign before getting the call-up to the main roster as a first-round draft pick for Raw. The Irishman then became the inaugural WWE Universal champion at SummerSlam before vacating the title the following night because of a shoulder injury.

Kenny Omega, who requested his release from WWE's former developmental territory Deep South Wrestling in 2006, has gone on to prolific success in New Japan; his win in the prestigious G1 tournament in August was the first by a non-Japanese wrestler. Omega's cohorts, the Young Bucks -- Nick and Matt Jackson -- have forged a reputation in the independents as one of the best tag teams in the world; they've had five reigns (including a current one) as the IWGP junior heavyweight tag-team champions, along with title reigns in both Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerilla.

Then there is Adam Cole, one of Bullet Club's newest recruits and the newly crowned Ring of Honor world champion, who ended Jay Lethal's 427-day world title reign.

"Those are the three pinnacle talents in our business that aren't contracted to WWE at this moment," Gallows said of Omega and the Bucks, his former running mates in Japan. "I think it could just be a matter of time [before they join WWE] and I personally would love to see it. It would be amazing. WWE is proving right now with the Cruiserweight Classic and the WWE Network that anything can happen.

"We always knew and kinda saw [Bullet Club] had a lot of talent, but to see it move on to such a big level, it's been a testament to all those guys, a testament to what we were doing in Japan," Gallows said. "I know that we're all very thankful, we all love what we do. Karl, AJ and myself are very happy to be able to do it in the WWE."

This isn't Gallows' first time around in the WWE. During his time in WWE developmental he had an ignominious appearance as an impostor Kane that quickly fizzled out, and he then debuted as a seemingly mentally challenged character in Festus that would gain superhuman strength and aggression when the bell rang. His most prominent role with the company came in 2009, when he became Luke Gallows as part of C.M. Punk's "Straight Edge Society." His first run with the WWE ended in late 2010, but during his time with the WWE and later in his runs in Japan and elsewhere, Gallows picked up a tremendous amount of experience for a wrestler who's still only 32 years old.

"I've been around a long time now. I'm kind of a young veteran guy. I've been in the ring with some of the greatest wrestlers to have ever lived, especially of my generation, the top names in the business. Everybody would agree AJ is one of the top, man. He's a gifted performer and he's certainly one that deserves that 'best in the world' moniker."

Gallows' tag-team partner is still something of an unknown entity to a lot of the WWE Universe, but Anderson accomplished a lot during his lengthy run in Japan. In addition to the three tag-team title reigns with Gallows and another with Giant Bernard (aka Tensai and current head WWE Performance Center trainer Matt Bloom), Anderson had impressive showings as a singles wrestler. Before Kenny Omega's victory, Anderson joined Rick Rude as the only non-Japanese wrestlers to even make the finals of the G1 Climax tournament.

"Karl Anderson is one of the best-kept secrets in the business so far," Gallows said. "Every time I sit on the apron watching him I think, 'Jesus, this guy is really special,' and he is. And I think that everybody's getting the chance to see that now."

Anderson, Gallows and Styles have their time in Japan to thank for their current roles in the WWE, and their stories help prove there are a number of ways to make it to the WWE in the modern era. Gallows credited his journey in New Japan as the "rebirth of my career" after getting released at the age of 26, and one look at the current WWE and NXT rosters proves that there are elements to performing on an independent wrestling that can translate to the bigger stage.

While he thinks that no independent wrestler should be turning down an offer to develop their craft at the WWE Performance Center, he said it is important for today's performers to keep up-to-date with what's going on outside of the WWE bubble in companies like New Japan and ROH.

"Everybody involved in WWE as performers right now has their finger on the pulse of the business, and that's why the business is so good," he said. "They know who's out there; they know who's coming up. Everybody knows what's going on. Everybody talks about it. It's definitely there, way more than it used to be, I would say."