WWE’s raid of the New Japan Pro Wrestling talent roster kicked off 2016 in a big way, but it’s worth noting that the negotiations with Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson were each handled individually and things just happened to work out around the same time.
Nakamura had talks with WWE in early 2015 but wound up re-signing with NJPW for another year. What many people don’t know is that Nakamura speaks English pretty well. He’s known for his showmanship and charisma and this apparently translates to his English promo ability.
WWE was planning to have AJ Styles debut in the Royal Rumble and we haven’t heard anything about that changing. The AJ Styles situation is an interesting one because he received an offensively low offer from WWE when he left TNA. He decided to work the independent scene and head over to Japan, where he raised his profile and was able to get considerably more money from WWE this time around.
Gallows and Anderson are expected to debut on NXT TV in early March. As we’ve covered previously, NJPW owns the name “Bullet Club” so they won’t be using that in NXT.
WWE Performance Center head coach Matt Bloom recently spoke with WWE.com about the rumors of top New Japan Pro Wrestling stars coming to WWE. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On the rumors of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling to come to WWE:
“It’s about time. WWE is the largest platform in the world to do what those guys love to do. They deserve to be here because they paid their dues, they worked really hard, and they made names for themselves. The best of the best come here to flourish. They’re gonna take all those years of experience, hard work and dedication, and now show it to the world on an even grander scale.”
On talking to Finn Balor about his former Bullet Club buddies possibly coming to WWE:
“He’s excited. He’s stoked. Finn is doing big things on his own right now, but I’m sure he knows that becoming the champion is difficult and staying the champion is even more difficult. He’s got an ace in his back pocket because he might have some friends coming in that have been known to watch his back. I’m sure that’s very comforting for Finn Bálor.”
On what to expect if The Bullet Club members show up in WWE:
“You hear the boss always say, “You need to reach for that brass ring.” The Bullet Club do things outside the box to continually reach for that brass ring. They’re not afraid to buck the system and be different. They’re not afraid of trying new things. The fans, the locker room, and us as coaches are very excited to see what The Bullet Club might do.”
Shinsuke Nakamura, who is leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling this month for WWE, will be traveling to the U.S. in February to begin work at the WWE Performance Center. PWInsider.com reported on Wednesday that a source from Japan has confirmed Nakamura will be working out at the performance center in Winter Parks, FL for “several weeks.”
Nakamura will also need to undergo medical testing before officially signing on with WWE. The company usually has their testing done in Pittsburgh, PA.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that Shinsuke Nakamura has been stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental championship. He wrestle his final match for the promotion on January 30th at The Road to The New Beginning show from Korakuen Hall.
On that card, he will team wish Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata. A new IWGP IC champion will be crowned in the main event when the Bullet Club’s Kenny Omega faces an opponent not yet announced.
Kevin Owens recently spoke with Title Match Wrestling to hype WWE’s upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 24th. The former Intercontinental champion addressed a wide range of topics including WrestleMania 32, potential matches with Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, NJPW stars invading WWE and more. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania: “WrestleMania is synonymous with the Undertaker, regardless of what’s happened with the streak, I still think it’s Undertaker’s show. I’d like to throw my name in the hat and see if he’s still the phenom that he claims to be.”
NJPW Stars To WWE: If any of those guys do get here, Nakamura is probably the one I’m most excited about. I’ve wrestled him once before, before I got signed to WWE and it was a pretty awesome experience. I think he would bring something completely different to WWE. As far as the other guys are concerned, they’re all talented guys, but ultimately, I’m better, so it doesn’t matter if they come or not.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. In this installment, JR reacted to reports that AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson are leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling and jumping ship to WWE:
“If WWE signs the NJPW talents that they are rumored to be romancing, it can be a HUGE development for WWE if they handle it efficiently and position these talents as top hands from the get go. Impactful debuts should be the order of the day.
AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura can both be major, singles stars for WWE. WWE does not have two, better singles wrestlers currently on their roster than AJ and Nakumura.”
Japan’s Tokyo Sports publication has confirmed that Shinsuke Nakamura will be leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling later this month and is headed to WWE.
Nakamura, who retained NJPW’s Intercontinental championship against AJ Styles at Monday’s Wrestle Kingdom 10 PPV from the Tokyo Dome, gave his first public comments about why he decided to join WWE. He explained that he is looking for a new challenge and hopes to reach “new heights” with WWE’s global platform.
Credit to Reddit user denemy for tweeting this photo of Nakamura WWE coverage in a Japanese newspaper:
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.”
Since the initial post yesterday, some more details have come out with regards to the huge news that various wrestlers have given notice to New Japan Pro Wrestling and appear to be WWE-bound. As noted yesterday, the story first broke publicly via a paywalled posting to former indie promoter and WWE writer Court Bauer’s podcast network, MLW Radio, where Bauer announced that Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, and two or three of Styles’ Bullet Club stablemates had given notice to the company. Being that the Bullet Club’s Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Rocky Romero have a podcast on MLW Radio, they seemed like the obvious candidates.
The first update came from Wrestling Observer Radio behind the paywall at F4WOnline.com, with some additional details coming on last night’s traditional weekly post-Raw show. On the shows, here are some of the key details laid out by Dave Meltzer:
The wrestlers who gave notice are Nakamura, Styles, Anderson, and Gallows, and yes, they’re seemingly WWE-bound, though nobody has signed yet. All but Styles, who had no contract, were working on NJPW’s traditional one year deals, which always expire at the end of January. This is not the first exodus of this kind, as Hiroshi Hase helped engineer Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima, and Kendo Ka Shin jumping to AJPW in 2002 when their NJPW deals were up. Styles had already been removed from ROH advertising and stopped accepting new indie bookings before Wrestle Kingdom, so it was kind of known within wrestling that he was done. He was seemingly written out of storylines at New Year Dash (full spoilers here) earlier today, with Mike Johnson at PWInsider confirming it was his last NJPW booking.
Meltzer made it clear that Nakamura won’t be leaving immediately, instead sticking around for a few months. He shot an angle setting up a new program for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship today at New Year Dash (again, the full spoiler details are here) so at the very least, it looks like he’ll see that through. There’s also the chance that NJPW could make him an offer to stay.
Meltzer made a point of saying that it looks like Styles and Nakamura aren’t earmarked for NXT, in part because of the money that they have to be paying to get them. Nakamura was believed to be making somewhere from a quarter to half a million dollars U.S. each year and Styles had a full calendar of well-paying indie dates (where his road expenses were also covered by promoters, unlike in WWE) on top of his NJPW tours. Whether making that kind of financial commitment means anything as far as WWE’s main shows changing stylistically is harder to tall. Also, as pointed out by Mike Johnson at PWInsider yesterday (before Meltzer’s confirmation that WWE was the destination of the wrestlers), Nakamura also needs to have a work visa secured by WWE so he can wrestle here legally, and that will take time.
Meltzer noted that rumors of Anderson leaving had been well known for a while (he’s right) but didn’t say much more about he and Gallows. While it was speculative on his part, he did throw out the idea of Anderson and Gallows being earmarked for a “Balor Club” heel stable, though that’s not necessarily the most wild guess. As for Gallows’ WrestleMerica indie promotion out of Barnesville, Georgia, which has become increasingly successful, there’s been no word on its status yet. Being that his wife, Kimberly Davis (Amber O’Neal/Amber Gallows/The Bullet Babe) is a wrestler, one would think she could take over the promotion unless it would still be seen as a political issue with WWE.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was in Singapore again yesterday for his ongoing promotional tour of Asia. It was the Singapore publication The New Paper where Bryan revealed the fact that if WWE doctors don’t clear him to return, despite the fact that other doctors have, his WWE career could very well be over.
On Thursday, Bryan spoke more about his status with PopSpoken.com and answered some fun questions such as who he would bring in for a match if he could pick anyone, who has given him his best WWE match in recent memory, his infamous 18-second WrestleMania match and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
– Bryan said he’s “passed every test” in order to return to action, but WWE doctors haven’t cleared him yet.
– He still suffers from partial blindness in his right eye due to a detached retina he suffered back in 2007. He also has a ruptured ear drum dating back to 2007 that would take a lot of time off to heal, if he were to get that fixed.
– Regarding today’s young wrestlers working a rough style to get noticed, Bryan said that’s just part of the business. If you’re not the type of guy that management sees as a star (he cited The Rock), then you have to work really really hard.
– Bryan named Sheamus as the opponent that gave him the best match in recent memory.
– When asked which wrestler from the independent circuit he’d like to face in a WWE ring, Bryan did not hesitate to name NJPW’s Shinsuke Nakamura.
“I wouldn’t call the Japanese promotions ‘indie,’ but I’d love to bring Shinsuke Nakamura over,” Bryan said. “I love Shinsuke and I’ve known him for ages. What I love about his style is that he incorporates facets of reality into his matches.”
Former IWGP Champion AJ Styles missed yet another New Japan World Tag League tournament match today in Fukuoka, Japan. His team with Yujiro Takahashi forfeited their second match, this time to the team of Michael Bennett and Matt Taven.
Styles has been on the sidelines since last working on November 24th due to a bulging disc in his lower back. According to those in Japan, his injury appears to be very serious, with the description being that he seems to be in great pain with any movement.
AJ Styles went into the current tour injured after missing ROH bookings to rest up for the tour. The 38-year-old star has yet to return home, as he has major matches scheduled over the next several weeks. After the current NJPW tournament wraps up on December 9th, he has an ROH Title match against Jay Lethal booked for ROH Final Battle in Philadelphia, as well as an Intercontinental Title match against Shinsuke Nakamura at the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
According to F4WOnline.com, Styles is resting and rehabbing as best as he can right now, and New Japan is being patient and not pressuring him to come back early.
Ring Of Honor is advertising “the next chapter in the partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling” for their television tapings in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 26th and 27th.
ROH announced the first of many NJPW stars who will be working the TV tapings immediately after their 14th anniversary show, which will air live on pay-per-view on February 26th.
“The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura was officially announced for the taping, with ROH promising to reveal additional NJPW talent scheduled for the shows in the near future.
On February 26th and 27th 2016, the best wrestling on the planet returns to at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas! Ring of Honor is celebrating our 14th Anniversary LIVE on pay-per-view on February 26th. But the very next night, all of your favorite ROH stars will be back again for a massive television taping! This is a can’t miss event in one of the most exciting cities in the world – and only ROH can deliver this kind of action.
In the coming weeks, matches for both the 14th Anniversary pay-per-view event as well as the television taping the following night will be announced but we can confirm that the next chapter in the partnership between Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) will be written in Las Vegas on February 26th and 27th.
The stars of ROH and NJPW will share the stage in the Entertainment Capital of the World for the 14th Anniversary weekend and we are proud to announce the first star from New Japan Pro Wrestling who will be competing in Las Vegas at the 14th Anniversary event and the TV Taping the following night.
“The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura
The King of Strong Style returns to Ring of Honor to dazzle Las Vegas with an enigmatic presence like no other. The “Boma Ye” is just one weapon in Nakamura’s arsenal and the five-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion looks to add more victims to his list on both February 26th and 27th.
Returning to Ring of Honor for the 14th Anniversary weekend in Las Vegas on February 26th and 27th is Shinsuke Nakamura and coming soon, you’ll learn the names of more stars from NJPW and Ring of Honor as well as matches to take place in “Sin City”!
Ticket demand for both the 14th Anniversary event and the TV Taping have been extremely high and both events are anticipated to sell out quickly. Get your tickets now if you want to experience the stars of Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling together on February 26th and 27th in Las Vegas for ROH’s 14th Anniversary weekend.
We will see you there live as Ring of Honor celebrates 14 years of the best wrestling on the planet!
– As noted, Brock Lesnar’s return to Madison Square Garden will take place on October 3rd. The 10/3 date will actually be a live WWE Network special, which Lesnar will be a part of.
– In addition to IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada, other New Japan Pro Wrestling stars at SummerSlam on Sunday night included Jushin Thunder Liger, Shinsuke Nakamura and KUSHIDA.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to promote his new autobiography. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On his status: “I’d like to return to the ring tomorrow. It’s not an issue of how I feel—I feel great—it’s an issue of getting cleared. That’s a process that is somewhat out of my hands. I’m trying. I don’t want to push, push, push. I’ve made my statement to WWE, but they’re going to listen to their doctors. I’m trying to do it as soon as possible, but they’re looking out for my best interests, so I’m trying to be a little bit patient with them.”
“I suffered a concussion in April, and I’m trying to get cleared back from that. It was during a six-man tag match, and I don’t remember if it happened during a particular move, but it was during the trip to Europe.”
On being inspired by Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman: “Paul’s very in touch with what’s going on in the world. He also sees the changes that wrestling needs to make to be more viable to more people. I would never describe myself as a genius, but I am not afraid to follow people who are geniuses, who know more than me about certain things. He’s just very creative, very smart, and on top of things. People say that Paul Heyman is a genius, and the same can be said about Vince McMahon. Paul and Vince just have different ideas.”
On who he thinks the best in the business right now: “Cesaro in the ring is as good as anybody out there in WWE. If you’re talking the entire wrestling world, there is a guy in New Japan [Pro Wrestling] that I really love watching named Shinsuke Nakamura. He’s awesome and really fun to watch. But in terms of the WWE, in ring, I love watching Cesaro.”
In what is considered a major political move, New Japan Pro Wrestling is sending Japanese legend Jushin Thunder Liger to appear for WWE on the NXT Brooklyn event on August 22.
On the same night, New Japan has Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada and Kushida for the Ring Of Honor event, which is also taking place in Brooklyn, New York.
Liger will be going one-on-one with Tyler Breeze at the NXT event, which is scheduled to air live on the WWE Network.
Ring Of Honor has announced that The Briscoes will take on the team of Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event of the “War of the Worlds Night One” event, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 12th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 21, 2015
Additionally, ROH also announced for the event on 5/12 a match featuring AJ Styles against a mystery opponent. ROH is promoting the fact that Styles’ opponent for the show will be announced during the show itself.
New Japan Pro Wrestling held their Invasion Attack event this morning. After winning the New Japan Cup last month, Kota Ibushi decided to challenge AJ Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event. In addition, there were three other titles on the line, two of which changed hands. The full results are below:
Alex Shelley, Captain New Japan, Kushida, Yohei Komatsu, and Yuji Nagata def. Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka, and Tiger Mask IV
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Tomoaki Honma def. Bullet Club (Cody Hall, TamaTonga, Yujiro Takahashi)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Baretta) def. The Young Bucks (c) to become champions
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) def. Mascara Dorada
IWGP Tag Team Championship
Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) def. Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (c) to become champions
Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, and Togi Makabe def. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, and YOSHI-HASHI)
Kazuchika Okada def. Bad Luck Fale
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
AJ Styles (c) def. Kota Ibushi
The full event is available to stream with a subscription to njpwworld.com.
Daniel Bryan was interviewed by Title Match Wrestling during WrestleMania 31 week and spoke about a number of topics, including the possibility of wrestling Hideo Itami, video games, why he wanted Roman Reigns to defeat Brock Lesnar and more.
Bryan also revealed that he pitched an idea to WWE about doing a match against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Shinsuke Nakamura on WWE’s upcoming tour of Japan. Bryan said he didn’t WWE was interested, but Nakamura found out about the potential dream match and responded on Twitter:
-Rocky Romero & Alex Skoslov defeated Kushida & Alex Shelley when Romero pinned Kushida after the Contract Killer for the pinfall. Romero & Skoslov won the IWGP Jr. Tag-Titles with the victory.
-Prince Devitt & King Fale defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan when Devitt pinned Captain following a Choke Lariat.
-Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer, Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka and Manabu Nakanishi & Strongman in a four-way to win the NWA & IWGP Tag-Team Titles. Kojima pinned Strongman following a Lariat.
-Masato Tanaka defeated Tomoaki Honma via the Sliding D to retain the NEVER Championship.
-Togi Makabe defeated Yujiro Takahashi via the King Kong Kneedrop.
-Hiroki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata fought to a Double Knockout.
-Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Karl Anderson via the High Fly Flow.
-Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Shelton Benjamin via the Bom Ba Ye to retain the Intercontinental Title.
-Kazuchika Okada defeated Minoru Suzuki via the Rainmaker to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title.
