Latest On Karl Anderson’s NJPW Future

More information has come to light on Karl Anderson’s future in NJPW after the NEVER Openweight Champion showed up on WWE Monday Night Raw.

On Monday Night Raw it looked like AJ Styles was set to join his fellow Bullet Club alumnus Finn Balor in The Judgment Day before two familiar faces turned up. Former Raw Tag Team Champions Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows returned to the company, reprising their partnership with Styles in the process. The trio brawled with The Judgment Day before clearing them from the ring.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Karl Anderson will be back in New Japan Pro Wrestling for a bout against Hikuleo in Osaka on November 5th for the NEVER Openweight Championship:

“So I guess [Anderson’s] gonna drop the championship, but he is coming back.”

He later added:

“They had the commitment [Anderson’s match against Hikuleo]. […] With Vince [McMahon] they didn’t want people going back [to former companies] but it wasn’t hard and fast, there were plenty of guys that got signed that were allowed to work out their notice if they insisted on it. I’m gonna guess that Anderson probably insisted on it because y’know, they gave him the championship, he’s left them before and it’s probably just good business.”

“Who knows? Maybe they’ll pull him but the way that it went down and the fact that they announced the card today [after Raw] that an agreement has been worked out and Anderson will drop the championship. I don’t know that they’d have him go back and forth for both groups but who knows?”

Elsewhere on that Osaka show, Will Ospreay will put his IWGP US Championship on the line against Tetsuya Naito.

The date of that show in Osaka is the same as the WWE Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia which indicates that Anderson and Gallows might not be part of that huge show.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJRWrestling.