NJPW’s Rocky Romero recently appeared on The Sessions with Renee Paquette and discussed the “stressful situation” surrounding The Good Brothers and their WWE returns while still working with NJPW.
Luke Gallows and NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson returned to WWE back in October, making their first appearances for the company since being released in October 2020. Anderson was still booked to defend the NEVER Openweight Title against Hikuleo, a match that had to be pushed back to earlier this month from November 5 due to The Good Brothers teaming with AJ Styles to face The Judgment Day at WWE Crown Jewel.
Anderson retained the NEVER Openweight Title against Hikuleo earlier this month, and now will defend against Tama Tonga at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. As we’ve noted, it was reported that NJPW officials knew Anderson and Gallows were returning to WWE, and that there were still plans for The Good Brothers to work at least some NJPW dates. Romero told Paquette that initially there was some confusion over the NJPW dates Gallows and Anderson would be working, but the situation has been resolved, and NJPW turned it into a “big angle.”
“It’s been a very stressful situation for me,” Romero said, laughing, as he works to help book foreign talents for NJPW. “Obviously, when the guys started talking about WWE had reached out to them, I of course started to get nervous because I knew that we had a bunch of dates set and everything and obviously, like you [Renee Paquette] said, Anderson was the NEVER Openweight Champion. I got worried and I said, ‘You know, you guys just don’t screw me over please.’ I was part of the reason that you guys came back and helped to, you know? Obviously, they left on good terms and everything, but just to bring them back was definitely a part of that.
“So we started talking about that but then finally [Anderson] was like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna sign and somebody’s gonna have to talk to WWE.’ So of course that means me having to talk to WWE. But I got on the line and obviously, there was some confusion on the dates that they were gonna actually do and there was that November 5 show that Anderson had already been announced for for New Japan but then it was also the same time that the Saudi Arabia show was going on. Obviously there was gonna be conflict right there, so that’s kind of how it started. It started off real rocky and they went and did Saudi, we figured it out, got a new date, and then just decided to turn it into a big angle because I thought that was probably the best way to deal with it. Hoping that everything was gonna work out but not really sure. Finally, [Anderson] went and did this last show a couple days ago and successfully defended the title. So now he’ll be at the Tokyo Dome to face Tama Tonga, which is really exciting. Dude, this Tokyo Dome is gonna be insane. We have a WWE wrestler in Karl Anderson, we have Kenny Omega who’s an AEW wrestler, we’ve got Stardom wrestlers on the show, we’ve got New Japan wrestlers.”
Paquette asked Romero what the odds are that Styles could come to Wrestle Kingdom 17 with Anderson next month.
“Anything is possible, Renee. Anything is possible,” Romero responded.
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(h/t to F4Wonline for the quotes)