WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling are teaming up for Karl Anderson to compete at Wrestle Kingdom 17, but that’s not a problem for Tony Khan.
Anderson returned to WWE alongside Luke Gallows in October of last year, despite holding the NJPW Never Openweight Championship at the time.
After opting to compete at WWE Crown Jewel over NJPW Battle Autumn in November, the Machine Gun will wrestle this Wednesday at Wrestle Kingdom.
Cool
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 will be a stacked show, with talent from New Japan, WWE, AEW, and STARDOM all competing.
Speaking to Fightful Select, New Japan’s Rocky Romero said he speaks with Khan quite frequently and was the one to tell Khan about WWE and NJPW working together.
Khan “understood why” the deal had been reached, and said he was “cool” about what was happening.
Anderson will defend the NJPW Never Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga this Wednesday.
Kenny Omega
AEW will have representation at Wrestle Kingdom 17, with Kenny Omega challenging for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay.
Romero told Fightful that Omega was forecasting his return to NJPW, teasing a match with Ospreay, before it was even a done deal.
Speaking about Omega’s suspension from AEW following the backstage fight at All Out, Romero said it “caused a pause” as nobody knew what was going to happen.
Romero said that NJPW worked with Barry Bloom on making this happen, and that Bloom was the one that made the Chris Jericho deal when he was in NJPW years ago.
