The Phenomenal One almost returned to NJPW along with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
Karl Anderson appeared at Wrestle Kingdom 17 alone to defend his championship, which raised a lot of eyebrows as people expected him to have someone in his corner. Naturally, AJ Styles would have been a treat for the NJPW fans.
Fightful Select is now reporting that Luke Gallows didn’t make the trip because it was NJPW’s call not to have him on the show. Regarding AJ Styles, there were talks of the former Bullet Club member coming over to Japan.
“AJ Styles has been sidelined with a broken ankle, but there were rumors prior to his injury that he could have appeared at Wrestle Kingdom 17 with Karl Anderson.
Styles was not present, but Doc Gallows also didn’t make the trip, which we’ve been told was a New Japan Pro Wrestling call. However, there were some talks about AJ Styles coming over. Rocky Romero tells Fightful’s Wrestling Perspective Podcast that AJ Styles himself thought it would be a cool idea. Romero said he believed if it were up to Styles, he might have been there.
It ended up being a moot point, as Styles broke his ankle the week before and hasn’t traveled or been on WWE TV. That ended all the possibilities. Romero made sure to specify that there were never any official plans for it to happen,”
Fightful Select
Karl Anderson was defeated by Tama Tonga at Wrestle Kingdom 17, ending his 206-day reign as Never Openweight Champion. Based on the outcome of the match, it doesn’t look like Anderson will work any more NJPW dates.
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