Rocky Romero says the situation involving Karl Anderson doing NJPW dates after his return to WWE has been “shaky”, but he’s thankful it all worked out.
Anderson won the NEVER Openweight Championship in June, but he later returned to WWE in October. He was scheduled to defend the gold at NJPW Battle Autumn on November 5, but WWE booked him to wrestle at the Crown Jewel event on the same day. Anderson went on to face Hikuleo at an NJPW event on December 14, and he will defend the title at NPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. In doing so, he will become the first contracted WWE wrestler to compete on the show.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful , Romero shared his thoughts on the situation and noted that it had been shaky, given WWE’s size and the company’s regime change. He noted that he understood why the company booked Anderson for Crown Jewel, and he went on to thank WWE for letting Karl compete at Wrestle Kingdom.
“The whole thing is was shaky, I felt like, in some kind of way,” Romero said. “Not that WWE was gonna do against what they originally had promised Karl, but it’s a big company, they’re super busy, and right off the bat, it got a little scary because he was announced for Osaka, to defend the title against Hikuleo, and then it also happened to be the same day as the Saudi show. So then it was like, oh, well, they just invested a bunch of money back into these guys, and they just brought them back on TV. Are they gonna let Karl go to Japan? Of course not.’ I understand.
“On the New Japan side, if it was flipped, it would have went that way as well. But kudos to WWE for letting him finish out the dates. He defended the title against Hikuleo in Japan already in December, and now it’s road to the Tokyo Dome, it’s gonna be him versus Tama Tonga. It’s a year in the making almost, I’m pumped. Thank you, WWE, for letting it happen.”
Romero continued by describing how the whole situation was stressful, and he emphasized that WWE’s regime change came with plenty of uncertainty. He then noted that, with Triple H being in charge, it seems like WWE is more willing to work with other companies. Romero also called having Anderson and Nakamura compete in Japan free advertising for the company.
“So much stress. The whole ride was very bumpy,” Romero said. “I think everybody’s intentions were good. Obviously Karl’s intentions were good, Gallows’ intentions were good, and to make good on everything that they’ve already promised, to appear at some of these shows and obviously, Karl’s a champion. So I think everybody’s intentions were good. It’s just, how do we get there? That’s always the sketchy part with professional wrestling because there’s so many moving parts, and WWE is a huge company. Obviously, with the regime change, you didn’t know what was gonna happen, like anything could happen.
“Vince could come back in power, nobody knows. So obviously Triple H now being in charge, we can see Shinsuke Nakamura going to work for NOAH against Muta, and Karl Anderson working New Japan. It does seem like there’s a complete change in how they feel about working with other companies or letting talent go and do really cool stuff outside of WWE because I feel like it all just helps the product either way. In Japan, New Japan is the market. Everywhere else in the world, WWE has very strong business. So I feel like it doesn’t hurt WWE by letting Karl Anderson or Shinsuke come over to this market, where they’re not as strong, and letting them get… it’s like free advertising for WWE.”
WrestleZone will have coverage of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 as it airs on January 4.
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