In a move which will shock the wrestling world to its very core, Court Bauer of MLW and Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer have separately issued statements announcing that WWE have signed AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson away from New Japan Pro Wrestling less than 24 hours after WrestleKingdom 10 at the Tokyo Dome.
The four signalled their intentions by informing New Japan officials that they would not be renewing their contracts and will be finishing up soon. Since NJPW contracts typically run yearly from January to January, the talent are free to negotiate deals during this time and choose whether or not to renew their option.
It’s not known as of press time when exactly they will each start their tenures at WWE, but in the case of AJ Styles (who is not contracted to NJPW, but is a free agent) it’s expected to be imminently. It’s understood that Nakamura will stay with NJPW long enough to drop the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, whilst Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson still have some booked dates for Ring of Honor to adhere to.
Following recent tradition in WWE, it’s almost certain they will all go to NXT first.
Since it was widely assumed that AJ Styles, and indeed Nakamura, would never be seen in a WWE ring, this will surely be seen by fans as one of the biggest groups of signings in recent wrestling history.
We’ll keep you posted with more updates as the story develops.