Backstage Update On Dynamic Between Karl Anderson, NJPW, And WWE

Many WWE fans were pleasantly surprised to see the recent return of AJ Styles' good brothers, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, several weeks back on "WWE Raw," who made their comebacks after spending two years outside of WWE, wrestling for Impact, AEW, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. However, with the return came controversy, as Anderson currently holds NJPW's NEVER Openweight Championship, and is scheduled to defend it against Hikuleo at NJPW's Battle Autumn event in Osaka, Japan, on November 5. That happens to be the same day as WWE Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Anderson been scheduled to team with Styles and Gallows to take on The Judgment Day.

According to Fightful Select, since Anderson was announced for the Saudi show, things with New Japan "have seemingly gone awry." Despite NJPW threatening to strip Anderson of his title if he doesn't show up for the event, and Anderson's own responses on Twitter, Fightful is reporting that there are "active plans for Karl Anderson to compete in NJPW" despite his newly-signed WWE contract. Fightful was not able to confirm whether or not Anderson will, in fact, be stripped of the championship, assuming his upcoming flight takes off for Riyadh and not for Osaka, but his NJPW career doesn't appear to be over.

The report sats that NJPW "does expect Anderson to fulfill additional dates," which apparently is fine with WWE under new management. Fightful also stated that "those familiar with the situation" don't believe there are any issues between WWE and NJPW over the situation, or between Anderson and either promotion and that NJPW knew the former Bullet Club members would be returning to WWE "as far back as August."