NJPW Star Declares Rumored WWE Signing ‘A Phenomenal Superstar’

WWE

An NJPW star has offered his opinion on a former New Japan star who has reportedly signed with WWE, reporting to the NXT brand.

PW Insider had previously reported that Karl Fredericks had left NJPW in August 2022 due to his contract expiring and had signed with WWE.

In an appearance on the Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast, Clark Connors reflected on Fredericks’ future, saying:

“It’s awesome. I’m so happy for him. I think I might be more happy for him than he’s happy for himself even.

“He originally turned down a WWE contract to train with WWE. He was already ready to do that four years ago.

“Karl is older then me, he’s like 32 right now, 31 or 32, and I’m always like, ‘You gotta make the most of your time, dude. You gotta go there, you gotta make money, and they’re gonna use you and respect,’ because he’s a phenomenal wrestler, but he’s a phenomenal superstar, which is what they look for over there.

“In my opinion, I think he’s gonna do really great things quickly.

“Then hopefully he cozies up close with the bosses [so there’s] a spot for me when I’m ready to rock.”

Connors would also explore Fredericks’ role in the LA Dojo, explaining:

“He was and is the man. It was always nice because when we’re together, we’d take inventory of each other, in terms of, the four of us, Alex [Coughlin], Gabe [Kidd], myself, Karl, we’re very honest with each other about what we need to fix, what we need to do, who we are as wrestlers.

“We’ve always said that out of the whole group, Karl’s a superstar. He’s the guy you could see having an action figure and on box of Wheaties and sh*, and that’s his role.

“So it’s always been that way, and we love it and we’re excited for it.”

Connors and Fredericks both signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2018 as the first class of the LA Dojo with Alex Coughlin.

Transcript from Fightful.

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• Karl Fredericks
• clark connors
• NJPW
• wwe

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