Did WWE’s Karl Anderson Lose The NEVER Openweight Championship At NJPW’s Latest Show

WWE/NJPW

WWE star and New Japan Pro Wrestling NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson defended his title at the latest NJPW show.

Despite re-joining WWE alongside long-time collaborator Luke Gallows on the October 10 edition of WWE Raw, Anderson was still the NEVER Openweight Champion.

As such, a planned match between himself and Hikuleo that was originally scheduled for November 5 was cancelled due to Anderson’s commitments at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

However, WWE has agreed to let Anderson work some NJPW dates, including a match at today’s (December 14) NJPW World Tag League/Super Jr. Tag League finals.

In an outcome that may shock some, Anderson managed to retain his belt in the match.

He later went on to cut a promo in which he identified himself as the greatest NEVER Openweight Champion of all time, and said that he would hold the championship for all of eternity.

Tama Tonga later came out to confront Anderson following the promo, after which the two men got into an impromptu brawl.

After delivering a Stun Gun to his fellow Bullet Club member, Anderson told Tonga he would see him at Wrestle Kingdom.

Dave Meltzer recently reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that upon joining WWE, Karl Anderson wanted to continue with what NJPW had planned for him up to Wrestle Kingdom, and WWE agreed to it. Meltzer said:

“New Japan plans are booked far, far, far in advance and they hate to change it. Sometimes they have to but they hate doing that. And he (Anderson) was figured into their plans, and when he left for WWE, he wanted to at least continue through the Tokyo Dome (Wrestle Kingdom), or continue his booking plans and not burn the bridge that he had promised them. So he was allowed to do that.

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

With Anderson in Japan, his stablemates in The OC in WWE – AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Mia Yim – appeared on Raw this past Monday without him.

After his win, Anderson tweeted:

I just had one of the greatest matches in @njpw1972 history.
I’m the greatest Never Open-weight Champion of all time.
What an incredible run I’m on….@Tama_Tonga , I’ll see you at –#WrestleKingdom in the Tokyo Dome, chump.. pic.twitter.com/VPh4Oy9wrR

— Karl Anderson (@MachineGunKA) December 14, 2022

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• never openweight championship
• karl anderson
• NJPW
• wwe

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