The ever-trvaeling forbidden door is making its way to the Tokyo Dome. New Japan Pro Wrestling’s premier event, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom, is set to feature high-profile matches from within its roster while also creating dream bouts between stars from across the professional wrestling landscape. Wrestle Kingdom 17 boasts a years-in-the-making clash between IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay and AEW’s Kenny Omega while also bringing WWE’s Karl Anderson back to the Far East to defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against former Bullet Club ally Tama Tonga.
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As recent reports have emphasized, Anderson was always scheduled to work Wrestle Kingdom, as plans for he and tag partner Luke Gallows were set in motion before the two began talking with WWE. After Anderson and Gallows officially returned to WWE, New Japan began teasing that Anderson would be stripped of his title, but ultimately came to terms with the Machine Gun and allowed him to defend the NEVER Openweight Championship when his schedule opened up.
Speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions, NJPW wrestler and talent scout Rocky Romero revealed that despite Anderson and Gallows having dates set with New Japan, he feared that WWE commitments would force them to back out altogether.
“It’s been a very stressful situation for me. Obviously, when the guys started talking about WWE had reached out to them. I, of course, started to get nervous because I knew we had a bunch of dates set and everything,” Romero said (h/t Fightful). “Anderson was the NEVER Openweight Champion. I got worried and said, ‘Just don’t screw me over.’ I was part of the reason they came back. Obviously, they left on good terms, but to bring them back, I was part of that.”
Once the ink dried on Anderson and Gallows’s WWE contracts, Romero became the liaison between NJPW and WWE.
“Finally, [Anderson] was like, ‘We’re going to sign and somebody is going to have to talk to WWE.’ Of course, that means me,” Romero continued. “I got on the line and there was some confusion on the dates they were actually going to do. There was the November 5th show that Anderson had already been announced for New Japan, but it was the same time the Saudi Arabia show was going on. Obviously, there was going to be a conflict right there.”
Romero is alluding to the fact that NJPW Battle Autumn and WWE Crown Jewel took place on the same day, and Anderson ultimately ended up working the WWE show. This seemingly ruffled some feathers in New Japan, as it broke tradition for a NJPW wrestler to miss a scheduled title defense.
“It started off real rocky. They went and did Saudi, we figured it out, got a new date and decided to turn it into a big angle because I thought that was the best way to deal with it, hoping that everything was going to work out, but not really sure,” Romero said. “Finally, he went and did this last show and successfully defended the title, so now he’ll be at the Tokyo Dome to face Tama Tonga.”
Anderson and Tonga do battle for the NEVER Openweight Championship at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4th, 2023.
