Karl Anderson will defend the NEVER Openweight Title against Tama Tonga this Wednesday at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Although Anderson and Luke Gallows returned to WWE several months ago, WWE allowed them to make their commitments to NJPW.
Of course, AEW and NJPW have a working relationship. Rocky Romero told Fightful Select that he speaks with AEW President Tony Khan quite frequently and told Khan about what was happening with WWE and NJPW. He said Khan isn’t shy about asking either and noted that Khan understood why it was happening and was cool about it.
Regarding Kenny Omega’s NJPW return at this event, Romero said that he believes Omega forecasted his return to NJPW before it was even a done deal.
Romero said he doesn’t think a deal was in place at the time of the Forbidden Door show for Omega to return, but he was thinking ahead.
Romero also said that the Brawl Out suspension caused a pause in the talks because nobody knew what would happen. NJPW worked with Barry Bloom on making this happen.