Karl Anderson Teases New Japan Return, AJ Styles Comments

Karl Anderson and his tag team partner Luke Gallows were two of the names released by WWE on Wednesday. The “Good Brothers” and former WWE tag team champions came into the company alongside AJ Styles in 2016 with high expectations. The one-time New Japan Pro Wrestling stars and Bullet Club members set the wrestling world on fire the night they arrived on Monday Night RAW (April 11th, 2016), but that momentum quickly faded and the pair found themselves trying to recover that momentum for the next several years.

Now, it looks as though Anderson is already getting ready to return to the company where he achieved his most success. A video clip posted to Anderson’s Twitter account refers to him by his “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson moniker once again and shows a plane traveling from Santa Monica, California to Tokyo, Japan. There’s also New Japan commentary playing in the background.

Check out the video below.

A report from PWInsider indicated that the talents released by WWE will still have to abide by a 90 day no compete clause, meaning Anderson wouldn’t be able to appear for NJPW until the week of July 15th. However, given the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, no events are scheduled for the immediate future anyway.

Anderson and Gallows have previously held New Japan’s IWGP Tag Team Championships on three occasions. Anderson also held the titles once with Giant Bernard.

While streaming on Mixer on Thursday night, AJ Styles acknowledged he felt ba about Anderson and Gallows’ WWE release and felt guilty that he could not protect them. The trio agreed to head to WWE together in January 2016.

“If you guys didn’t know, Gallows and Anderson, guys that are like my brothers were released yesterday, ” Styles said. “That one hurt really bad. The only way I know how to explain it is that these guys are my family and I couldn’t take care of my little brothers.”

He continued, “That’s the way I feel about it, I’m the oldest and I’m supposed to take care of them. I didn’t manage to do that and I feel responsible in some weird way for them being released. It’s devastating. I don’t know any other way to explain it.”