“The Rainmaker” has found a new home.
Following weeks of speculation, Kazuchika Okada appears to be AEW-bound, with a contract expected to be signed in the near future.
Fightful Select is reporting that the New Japan Pro Wrestling legend and top star has effectively agreed to terms on a deal, but has not yet put pen-to-paper, as the contract is still being finalized.
AEW has been confident that they would land the top Japanese star for the past several weeks, dating back to mid-January.
There is still not much in the way of details regarding when and where Okada will make his full-time AEW debut, however it is not expected to happen until he finishes up his contractual obligations with NJPW.
The company has been tossing around potential creative ideas for when Okada does arrive in AEW for a couple of weeks.
In what could be related news, there were rumblings out of Las Vegas, Nevada this past weekend regarding the first-half of March being big for AEW.
While WWE has denied negotiating with Okada, talent that works for the company have stated otherwise. One source in WWE noted that Okada was weighing the pros and cons of heading to WWE versus joining AEW. Despite rumors to the contrary, there were never any real talks of Okada going to NXT if he were to sign with WWE.
We will keep you posted as additional information surfaces regarding plans for Kazuchika Okada’s future.