New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kenny Omega was recently interviewed by Mark Suleymanov of The Inquisitr. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On his time with PWG:
“PWG is somewhat like a home away from home. Just before I left for Japan, I was just breaking into there and the fans there are very receptive. They love me, they love my character, and they love my matches. The promoter there took a chance on me when others wouldn’t and I entered the main event scene with the highest quality of opponents there before any other promotions. I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for PWG.”
On being with WWE developmental:
“That’s one thing Deep South Wrestling taught me, which was the WWE developmental at the time when I was there. Some people thrive being programmed, some people need to have a direction told to them, some people need to be created from the ground up to even stand a chance in this world. But for people like me, I really need my own creative freedom and be in an environment where that can I flourish.”
On wrestlers copying the Bullet Club logo:
“I think it’s sort of a cheesy cash-in, like, it’s bad enough that we have so many parodied t-shirt designs that people are buying,” said Omega. “It’s bad enough that you have to parody a legitimate wrestling logo. Parody a movie, parody a game, parody a TV show, but a wrestling shirt parodying a wrestling shirt, that’s a little cheesy. Can’t you go a little deeper than that?
“Chances are you’re either a mother f***ing robot yourself that has no original idea, or you just wouldn’t be able to sell your own merchandise so you have to make something to similar to Bullet Club that people wanna buy it, in my humble opinion. But what do I know, I’m only the guy who has had six matches of the year.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling has re-signed Bad luck Fale and Rocky Romero after both men were in talks with WWE, according to Ryan Satin of ProWrestlingSheet.com. Both deals are said to be for 2 years.
With the news of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson giving notice to NJPW and appearing to be WWE bound, it’s not surprising that NJPW is locking down talent and preventing an even greater exodus.
Bad Luck Fale posted the following message on Facebook regarding his decision to stick with NJPW:
There has been a lot of speculation around my future. I have had offers from all corners, and a lot of people telling me what to do. But as always I’ve always blocked out outside voices and stayed true to myself. I am someone who stays true to myself. I believe in integrity, honesty and loyalty. And it’s those principles that have swayed my decision. I will stay with NJPW because they believed in me when I was nobody. That means more than anything materialistic. I look forward to the future and appreciate the opportunity that I have had and that I have been given. Bullet Club for life!!!!
The Miz recently appeared as a guest on Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss and spoke about Vince McMahon influencing a change in his ring gear, Tom Cruise influencing his egotistical character, getting advice from The Rock and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On working and getting advice from The Rock:
“I met The Rock. I got to wrestle The Rock and I remember my first movie I actually texted The Rock and he called me back and was like, ‘hey man, this is your first movie’ and he gave me the most amazing advice.”
On getting his egotistical character from watching Tom Cruise movies:
“I would watch all of [Cruise’s] interviews and just some of the stuff that he would say would just be incredible. He’d be so intense and then start laughing and then be really intense again and I’d be like, ‘I’m using this!’ This is it!”
On switching his ring gear from shorts to trunks after Vince McMahon saw him in trunks and liked the look:
“When I first started with WWE, I didn’t want to look like the quintessential wrestler. I didn’t want to wear trunks. I didn’t want to look like that. I wanted to look cool, I guess you could say, like, cooler in my mind. And I wore shorts with a bunch of different stuff. I wore a bandana with a fedora thinking it was the coolest thing ever, saying ‘ninny’. I don’t know. It was just one of those things. I got fired by Jeremy Piven because he was the guest host that week [on WWE Monday Night RAW] and so the next week I was going to come back and I was going to wear a mask and everyone couldn’t know who I was, so I wore trunks for the first time. When I got [backstage], one of the talent relations guys goes, ‘Vince loves you in trunks. You are wearing trunks from now on.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to wear trunks! I don’t want to wear trunks!’ And it’s like, if Vince McMahon says, ‘you’re going to wear trunks from now on,’ you’re going to wear trunks from now on, so I started wearing trunks and I haven’t gone back.”
WWE Performance Center coach and WWE Breaking Ground personality Robbie Brookside recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast.
During the interview, which was recorded at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, Brookside spoke about getting his job with WWE, noting that they originally brought him in for a six month trial period. Three months into the trial period, he was asked to stay another six months and that turned into two years.
Brookside also spoke about his friendship with NXT General Manager William Regal, someone that he admits he has a lot to thank for. He spoke about taking Regal under his wing several years back when both were in England, and that Regal has returned the favor many times by getting him work in WCW and WWE.
“Darren, I call him Darren, is my best mate, without a shadow of a doubt. We’ve always kept in touch over the years through thick and thin,” said Brookside. “There’ve been times where he’s needed a shoulder to cry on, and for someone to back him up, and I’ve done the same as well, and he’s been there all the way.”
Brookside continued, “He’s married and he’s got three children, and I remember when Daniel was born. I was staying at their house before they were married, we go back that far. He’s almost like an uncle, but I’m two or three years older. But I always feel ten years younger.”
TNA switched another title during their television tapings in Bethlehem this weekend, as Trevor Lee defeated Tigre Uno to become the new TNA X-Division Champion in a match that is expected to air on the February 2nd edition of Impact Wrestling on POP TV.
Lee has held the TNA Tag-Team titles with Curt Hawkins in the past, however this is the first time he has had a run with a singles title in TNA.
The angle in this one saw Shane Helms come out to challenge Uno for the X-Division title after weeks of teasing that he was coming for it, only to introduce Uno’s real opponent — Trevor Lee.
A new TNA Champion was crowned at Friday night’s Impact Wrestling tapings from Bethlehem, PA in a match that featured an unexpected double turn.
Matt Hardy defeated Ethan Carter III to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion, turning heel and aligning himself with Tyrus. EC3 turned babyface after suffering the first clean loss of his TNA career.
The Hardy-EC3 match featuring the double turn angle and title change, which TNA has been hyping this week as a “Career vs. Title” match, is expected to air on the Tuesday, January 26th episode of Impact Wrestling on POP TV.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com on Saturday morning for a complete report from tonight’s TNA television tapings, including a detailed rundown of the entire Hardy-EC3 match and angle from earlier this evening.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross updated his official blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on WWE’s approach to booking the top matches for WrestleMania 32, Mauro Ranallo’s WWE announcing debut and his own potential return to broadcasting. Below are some of the highlights.
On WWE’s booking heading into WrestleMania 32:
“Bottom Line is that WWE has the time to construct the top 3-4 main event level bouts for WM32 if they book a card that they are comfortable with and include some surprises and new faces in the mix. Fans want bold and new and I hope that WWE takes a calculated risk on some new hands and do what they can to provide the fans with what they seemingly want. Every one is a ‘booker’ these days, including me, so at times WWE, as well as other wrestling companies, are damned if they do and damned if they don’t when it comes to creative.”
On Luke Harper being someone WWE could book against The Undertaker at WM32:
“Who wrestles Taker at WM32 is a question that I’m getting a lot. First of all, I have no idea. Secondly, someone can be made ready between now and April 3 for Taker especially if the opportunity exists to put the Deadman in jeopardy. Perhaps, and this is merely one of many ideas that one can come up with, Luke Harper, with the Wyatt Family, would give the Undertaker a quality match and no matter the outcome Harper would be better because of the booking. I could see the Wyatt Family, lead by Harper , turning on Bray Wyatt, who could then get the ‘rub’ from Taker to become a long overdue, in my opinion, character baby face.”
On Mauro Ranallo’s WWE announcing debut on this week’s SmackDown:
“Enjoyed Mauro Ranallo on his first Smackdown broadcast this week and thought Jerry Lawler’s edgier presentation was a positive step for the sound of the show, too. It’s fun reading all he Twitter feedback regarding Mauro’s work and fans comparing his style to mine as if I were deceased. Mauro’s work deserves to stand on its own. He’s that good.”
On “Good Ole’ JR” possibly returning to the announcing booth:
“For the record, I’m not deceased and neither is my broadcasting career for those keeping score at home. I merely say, ‘Stay tuned.'”
While many WWE Superstars who made the media rounds to promote Thursday’s premiere episode of WWE SmackDown on the USA Network went above-and-beyond to find ways to describe why the change is going to be a big deal for the program and for WWE itself, the new franchise player for the company took a bit of a different approach.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns spoke with the Associated Press and was refreshingly honest about the “changes” that came with the show switching their weekly cable home.
“I wish I could say (USA Network) makes a huge difference and it’s a super positive move and everyone’s so pumped about it,” Reigns said to The Big Story’s Dan Gelston. “But as a competitor, all I need is the ropes and hopefully people show up in the arena. From a wrestling standpoint, not too much has changed for us.”
After Gelston pointed out the fact that in the past stars such as John Cena and the McMahon family would rarely appear on SmackDown, giving fans the perception that it was WWE’s “B-show” that could be skipped while RAW was the “A-show” that had can’t-miss storylines, Reigns was quick to give a very brief opposing opinion.
“I don’t look at it as any less of a show, it’s pretty much the same talent,” Reigns said.
WWE SmackDown now airs every Thursday night on the USA Network at 8pm EST.
– The new voice of WWE SmackDown on the USA Network, Mauro Ranallo, spoke with WWE.com for a “SmackDown Fallout” post-show interview. In the brief backstage interview, which you can view above via WWE’s official YouTube channel, Ranallo talks about it being a dream 30 years in the making to call a show for WWE.
– Speaking of announcers, the new NXT announce team of Tom Phillips and Corey Graves made their official debut at the NXT television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on Thursday night.
– Vince McMahon posted the following on Twitter on Friday morning to congratulate The Rock on winning the Favorite Cable TV Actor Award at this year’s People’s Choice Awards.
Former TNA World Champion Bobby Roode recently appeared as a guest on The Art Of Wrestling and spoke about training with former WWE Superstar Val Venis in 1997, attempting to sign with WWE prior to TNA and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On training with Sean “Val Venis” Morley in 1997:
“I started training with Val Venis, Sean Morley. He was a friend of mine. He lived just 10 minutes from me, so I met him at a gym and we kind of went back and forth. I knew who he kind of was. He’s like, ‘yeah man, I’ve got a ring in the back of my backyard.’ I was like, ‘yeah?’ and he was like, ‘yeah, come on out.'” Roode continued, “I got in there and I kind of did some stuff with Sean and from that minute, like, from the moment I locked up and got inside the ring, I was hooked and I was like, ‘man, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to learn.’ And he never charged me [anything]. Sean charged me absolutely nothing. I mean, I went to his house maybe twice and it wasn’t like formal training. It wasn’t like, ‘okay, we’re going to do rolls.’ It was like, ‘okay, this is how you lock up. This is how you hit the ropes.’ And then Sean took off. I think he went down to Mexico at the time.”
On trying to get a deal with WWE prior to signing with TNA:
“The excuse I always got from John Laurinaitis was ‘we have nothing for you and you’re too good for developmental, so go get over somewhere else and come back and see us’, so I went and got over somewhere else and I just haven’t left.” Roode added, “at the time, I felt like I deserved [a WWE deal]. I did everything you guys asked me to. I know I showed heart and passion.”
On Vince McMahon liking his work while he was doing WWE dark matches:
“I remember Sgt. Slaughter was the agent and he came back [after the match] and he was like, ‘that was really good.’ He goes, ‘Vince came on the headset and asked who you were.’ I go, ‘well, that’s cool.’ So then, I get up the next day and I drive six and a half hours to Kelowna Beach, B.C. [Canada] to do the [WWE] SmackDown taping and I’m at the building and I’m walking around, just kind of backstage. And Vince walks up to me and he shakes my hand and he goes, ‘I really liked your work last night. I love the way you sold. You looked really good out there. We’re going to get you another match tonight.’ It blew my mind. Right? So I go out there, I have another match. I think I worked [Johnny] Stamboli that night. It probably wasn’t a five-star match, but I mean, it was a decent match. And if Vince, the owner of the company, comes up to me and puts me over and then Johnny Ace is like, ‘yeah, we’ve got nothing for you’, those are the kinds of things that I’m like, ‘man, why am I doing this to myself?’ And not only that, I flew myself there and did whatever. I mean, we all did it, but it’s just like, those were the things that I was starting to be like, ‘this isn’t for me anymore.'”
NXT announced via their official Twitter account on Thursday evening that NXT Women’s Champion Bayley now has her next challenger set, as she will be facing Carmella at the CFE Arena at the University of Central Florida for the set of television tapings scheduled in the venue for January 22nd.
Additionally, they announced a number one contenders match between Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn to decide who will challenge Finn Balor in the next NXT Championship match.
The event on 1/22 is part of an aggressive January calendar for the NXT brand, as they will be running a total of 15 shows, including multiple shows on the same night in two different locations.
With all of the talk over the past year, it should come as a surprise to no one that WWE did more “50/50 booking” on television in 2015 than in any other year in the history of the company.
50/50 booking is when a wrestler loses as much as he wins. WWE took on the approach despite the fact that it nearly guarantees everyone on the roster is going to be perceived as average, as very few stars can stand out if everyone loses as often as they win.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter correspondent Chris Siggia examined the 2015 WWE records and as expected, there were more “Even-Steven” type booking scenarios playing out on television than ever before. Below are some of the stats he compiled regarding champions losing on television in 2015.
* World Champions did 12 jobs on WWE television last year, including nine of the 12 by Seth Rollins.
* Intercontinental Champions did 14 jobs on television in 2015, including eight by King Barrett and three by Kevin Owens.
* United States Champions did eight jobs on TV, with Rollins looking at the lights on three of those occasions.
* Tag-Team Champions did 21 tag-team jobs, ten of which were by The New Day.
* Divas Champions did nine television jobs, seven by Nikki Bella and two by Charlotte.
WWE Diva and Total Divas star Natalya returned from a broken ankle at the WWE live event in Corpus Christi, Texas this past Sunday night, doing a run-in.
Nattie broke her ankle in November, but apparently wasn’t aware of the fact for the past two months. It’s believed that she originally injured herself while in the U.K., but thought it was just a sprain and that she would be fine after taking a week off. Eventually she had it examined and realized that it was actually broken.
Although she wasn’t used on WWE television this week, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that she is expected to return to in-ring action “imminently.”
– The “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” tournament is expected to become a new annual NXT event. There is talk of having the finals of the tournament take place as its’ own event that would be in conjunction with WWE’s annual SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– WWE is going around mainland China looking for prospective talent to train. WWE has been looking for a way to capitalize on the market for years now, as the brand isn’t nearly as established there as it is in other international markets. John Cena has been studying the language for years in hopes that he will be able to help do his part in making WWE as big in China as it is in many other foreign countries.
Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh has been pushing the idea of holding a WrestleMania event at Michigan Stadium, with the idea that it would break the all-time attendance record.
The stadium holds 107,601 for the set up used for football games, so with the stage set up that is normally used for big WWE events such as WrestleMania, the stadium would hold approximately 102,000, which would break anything that WWE will legitimately draw this year regardless of what they announce as the attendance for WrestleMania 32 at AT&T Stadium in April.
It wasn’t specified when exactly they would like to bring WrestleMania to the venue, however it would also break the attendance figures that WWE would legitimately draw for any big event currently on their calendar, including rumored shows such as upcoming WrestleMania events that are expected in certain cities and venues.
While nothing is set in stone, there has been talk within WWE creative lately regarding the possibility of splitting up The Dudley Boyz and having Bubba Ray Dudley perform as a singles character more along the lines of the Bully Ray heel persona he portrayed in TNA.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that while the concept has been pitched and discussed at meetings in recent weeks, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that it’s in the works because often times interesting ideas will come up and never actually come to fruition for one reason or another.
Linda McMahon announced her latest business venture this week, “Women’s Leadership Live,” a company geared towards promoting leadership opportunities for women.
“It’s impossible not to recognize that even in 2016, women are clearly underrepresented in leadership,” McMahon told Hearst Connecticut Media. “Women are 51 percent of the population but only 20 percent of Congress. Women earn the majority of college degrees but on average only make 78 cents on the dollar.”
“Women make 80 percent of household spending decisions, but only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies are led by women. Only 17 percent of corporate board members are women. This is not about setting quotas, but about having a diversity of perspectives and experiences in decision-making roles. We are making progress, but there are still glass ceilings that need to be cracked.”
The company is based out of Texas and includes Stacey Schieffelin and Debbie Saviano as listed business partners. Their first official event will be a three-day conference held on May 19-21 in Irving, Texas.
WWE is now officially advertising Brock Lesnar for the upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view in Cleveland, Ohio on February 21st.
Lesnar, who was also announced for next week’s RAW in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been added to the list of talent advertised to appear at the 2/21 pay-per-view event.
Although he is not officially advertised yet for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view scheduled for this month, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently reported that Lesnar is booked for the Rumble event and would be returning to WWE television in January to help promote that fact.
With Lesnar now being advertised for Fastlane, it appears likely that he will in fact be working WWE’s next three pay-per-view events in a row, with WrestleMania 32 being the third.
MuscleAndFitness.com released a new article looking at the rigorous training regimen that 70-year-old WWE Chairman Vince McMahon maintains up to seven days a week to this day.
The article runs down the specific exercises that McMahon does, with comments from his trainer and workout partner Mike Monteforte.
“On the bent-over row he can do 315 for 10 reps,” says Mike Monteforte, McMahon’s trainer and workout partner. “He has unbelievable strength in his back.”
According to the article, McMahon rotates through a split of chest, shoulders, arms, legs and back workouts, noting that his back is his “strongest body part and favorite to train.”
After he’s done focusing on individual body parts, McMahon and Monteforte do a CrossFit-inspired workout that consists of battling rope slams, sled drags, sledgehammer swings and sprints. After that he does a circuit of ab exercises, which wraps up what generally amounts to a 90-minute workout session.
TNA has announced five matches for their TNA One Night Only: Live! pay-per-view event, which will be broadcast live from the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania this Friday, January 8th.
The following five matches were made official for the live pay-per-view event. Due to the three-hour window blocked out for the pay-per-view broadcast, one would assume additional matches will be added before Friday.
TNA Tag Team Title Match
– Kurt Angle and Drew Galloway vs. Eli Drake and Jesse Godderz vs. The Wolves
#1 Contenders Gauntlet Match
– Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, Awesome Kong, Jade, Marti Belle, Rebel
– James Storm and Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young and Bram
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his reaction to Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, as well as his thoughts on some other current topics.
On Monday’s RAW main event and Roman Reigns defending his title in the Royal Rumble match this year:
“Reigns vs. Sheamus was a solid match and Mr. McMahon as the referee was intriguing but alas it came at the end of the three hour marathon so that affected the proceeding somewhat. Nonetheless, McMahon providing Reigns the ‘rub’ is a good thing and now Reigns is booked in the most challenging of circumstances at the Rumble whereas he apparently must win the Rumble to retain WWE World Title. Indeed the hero is in deep jeopardy.”
On Charlotte’s heel turn:
“I assume that Charlotte is now a villain and that her father the Nature Boy is as well. I can see Ric helping Charlotte get established but Natich doesn’t need to be in his daughters corner for the long haul. He’s too powerful a presence to allow Charlotte to grow over the long haul, IMO.”
On Chris Jericho’s return:
“I don’t think that Chris Jericho wrote is own promo. Nonetheless it was good to see Chris back for his seemingly, annual Rumble to Wrestlemania run. Jericho can help get young talents over.”
The Monday, January 4th edition of WWE RAW, the first episode of the show in 2016, averaged 3.575 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This is slightly up in viewership compared to the final episode of 2015, which did 3.536 million viewers.
RAW featured Roman Reigns defending the WWE Championship against Sheamus in the main event with Vince McMahon as the special guest referee.
The hourly viewership breakdown for this week’s RAW is as follows:
Hour One: 3.707 million viewers
Hour Two: 3.516 million viewers
Hour Three: 3.503 million viewers
We should have the final rating for Monday’s RAW should be up soon.
Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion James Storm made his TNA return at the premiere edition of Impact Wrestling on POP TV on Tuesday night.
Storm had been wrestling off-and-on for NXT as of late, however he didn’t sign an actual deal with WWE. On Monday, Storm took to social media to address rumors that he would be appearing at the first Impact Wrestling on POP TV show, claiming he would be in town, but only to meet with TNA officials.
As it turned out, Storm was bluffing, as he did make a return at the show on Tuesday night. Storm did a run-in during the King Of The Mountain title match between Bobby Roode and Bram. Below is an excerpt from our TNA Impact Wrestling On POP TV report, detailing Storm’s return and the Beer Money reunion that he and Roode teased, as well as a photo of Storm’s surprise return at the show:
James Storm comes into the ring and he clears house. Josh Mathews says that he thought Storm wasn’t part of Impact Wrestling anymore. Storm said that he left Impact several months ago because he didn’t like who he was portraying. Storm said that he’s a beer drinking, Johnny-Cash listening beer drinker from Tennessee. He said that he wasn’t having fun anymore. Storm said that he was sitting at home and came across Impact Wrestling and saw that he got the “biggest disappointment” award. Storm said that he put everything he had into this company for 13 years. He said that guys like him made this damn company. Storm looked at Roode and said that they drank a lot of beer together. He said that they made a lot of money together. Storm says it’s time to get back to having fun. Storm cracks open a couple of beer bottles and gives one to Roode. Storm: “Beer?” Roode hesitates. Storm grabs it and says, “Money.” The old Beer Money theme plays. So it looks like Beer Money is back.
NXT star Apollo Crews recently appeared as a guest on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and spoke about a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On taking gymnastics as a kid:
“I took gymnastics as a young kid. I could always flip. I’d be on my bed or whatever, trampolines, just doing the most random stuff.” Crews continued, “[people] are harsh as kids. I wish I had my mentality now when I was a kid because, right now, I wouldn’t really care what people thought back then. But, back then, I cared what people thought, so I’d take gymnastics [and other kids would say], like, ‘ah, naw, that’s not something a guy should be doing,’ just teasing me [and] picking at me for doing that.”
On his goal to make it to WWE:
“It was always a goal [to make it to WWE]. Like, the reason I did start working on the indies and doing those things before I got here was to get here, so it was cool. At the time I was asked to come here, I didn’t even know if WWE knew about me.”
On being in no rush to make it to the main WWE roster:
“I don’t want to miss out on the moments. Like, I want to remember everything. Triple H said before, ‘no matter where we go from here, we’re going to look back on this moment and it’s probably going to be the greatest time in our life’. I don’t want to look back and be like, ‘NXT, I loved it, but it just went by so fast’. I want to enjoy every [moment].” Crews added, “I have goals that I set and I want to accomplish everything I can here possible. For me, it’s amazing because my tryout was a year ago. Like, day one, I said I was going to come in here and my goal is to be [NXT] Champion, so for me to be in this spot is an honor.”
On his preference to be a singles competitor and his interest in having a manager:
“I like being solo. Like even when I did things in high school [or] even in team sports, there’s something about just depending on yourself. Like, when you’re out there, it’s you versus this guy and you know that you are your only chance of survival. I thrive off of that.” Crews continued, “Definitely, I’d love to have [a manager]. I definitely wouldn’t mind that. It would be pretty cool. I think there could be some interesting things we could do there too, so that would be cool. Tagging, I wouldn’t mind it, but I do love singles a lot more, but a manager would be cool, actually. I could see that though.”
WWE.com published a new feature story on the rumors regarding top New Japan Pro Wrestling stars AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson possibly jumping ship from NJPW to WWE.
Their article, which they promise to continue to update with any new information that surfaces, mentions that the four are rumored to be WWE bound, however noted the following about Triple H “declining to comment” on the rumors.
“The office of WWE COO and EVP of Talent Relations, Triple H, declined to comment on the rumors for WWE.com.”
The official WWE website story also tells a bit of the story behind NXT Champion Finn Balor’s relationship with the aforementioned NJPW talents, including some of the history of the Bullet Club faction, as well as the Balor Club t-shirts.
“Additionally, the official Twitter account for the Bullet Club tweeted the NXT Champion Monday, telling him to keep more Bálor Club shirts on hand in case they need them. That tweet has since been deleted.”
The article ends with WWE.com pointing out the significance of the four NJPW talents possibly jumping to WWE simaltaneously to fans who might not be overly familiar with the international wrestling scene.
“The addition of Styles, Nakamura, Anderson and Gallows would represent one of the most significant bulk talent acquisitions in WWE history.”