Tama Tonga has confirmed that January 2024 will mark his last month in NJPW during the Wrestle Kingdom 18 post-match press conference.
At the Tokyo Hall event, Tonga became a four-time NEVER Openweight Champion, defeating Shingo Takagi.
In comments made post-match and shared on Twitter, Tonga stated that January will be his last month with New Japan.
It would also be stated that Tonga wanted to “find work closer to home” and that he “loves Japan, this company and every wrestler.”
Tonga’s reason for wanting to return to home, having debuted for NJPW back in 2010 and been a fixture for the company ever since, is that he ‘misses his family and leaving them at home is nothing he wants to continue to do.’
Tonga has previously been the subject of ‘internal talk’ in WWE with it being reported in May 2023 that there had been talk about Tonga within the company for some time.
Interestingly, Tama Tonga resides in Orlando, Florida, the city where WWE’s Performance Center is based.
Another name WWE previously expressed interest in was Tonga’s brother, Hikuleo, who is also signed to NJPW.
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