NJPW Star Working Without Contract, Potential Interest From WWE
A long-term wrestler for NJPW is still there for now, but is currently working without a formal contract in place.
Rumors circulated for months that certain NJPW wrestlers’ contracts were running out and both WWE and AEW being interested in them. Those rumors were confirmed when Jay White ended up signing with AEW after courting receiving offers from both of the top wrestling companies in the United States.
Now it appears that one of Jay White’s former opponents is following in his footsteps. According to a report by Fightful Select, Tama Tonga is currently working NJPW shows but hasn’t signed a new contract. In other words, he’s working on a per-appearance basis.
The Fightful report went on to note that WWE were interested in Tonga for some time, but that has since changed due to the company putting a freeze on all new hires. Because of that, communication has stopped between both sides.
Additionally, Tama Tonga has been working without a contract for several months now. His most recent major appearance was at Wrestling Dontaku on May 4th. On that show, Tonga lost his NEVER Openweight Championship to David Finlay and was then stretchered out of the arena.