Tag: Karl Anderson

Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows appear on WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are in NXT.

After Chase U defeated Axiom and Nathan Frazer to become the new number one contenders to the Tag Team titles on Tuesday, Gallows and Anderson arrived, laying out both teams and Riley Osborne, who was at ringside. Later in an interview, Karl Anderson said they’ll remain in NXT as long as they want to be. Gallows said they’ll win the NXT Tag Team titles with the same old recipe: their finisher, the magic killer.

Since their return to WWE in 2022, Gallows and Anderson have mostly been aligned with AJ Styles, reforming The OC. However, after Styles returned to WWE in December following an injury angle, he became distant with his stablemates, nearly coming to blows with Anderson on a recent episode of SmackDown.

Bron Breakker & Baron Corbin defeated Stacks and Tony D’Angelo last week to win the NXT Tag Team titles. Earlier on Tuesday’s show, both Chase U and the team of Frazer & Axiom made their claim to the next contenders for a title match. Corbin & Breakker left it to the two teams to solve their differences, with a number one contender’s match being made for later in the show.

Karl Anderson on past anti-WWE comments: ‘I said some things that were out of passion’

Posted on by Colin McGuire

Karl Anderson is glad to be back in WWE. 

Anderson opened up to Ryan Satin during the latest episode of “Out Of Character” about how angry he was after being let go from the company in 2020. 

Noting how he’s an “emotional and fiery person,” Anderson explained that while the release came as a surprise, he’s happier these days that he, along with his tag-team partner Luke Gallows and WWE were able to “be men and move on.”

“Maybe I said some things that were out of passion,” Anderson said. “When you’re angry about something or if you’re working up about something, you’re going to say what you feel and say what you think might be right or might not be right, but who knows what was going on behind the scenes? … I don’t know all that stuff and who knows who’s calling the shots at certain points at that time in 2020, so I’m just glad that we were able to work it out.”

When asked if he’d ever return to WWE in 2020, Anderson said “Absolutely f- not.” From there, Anderson and Gallows went on an independent run that saw the team pop up everywhere from AEW to Impact Wrestling to NJPW. 

Anderson said in the interview that after he and Gallows were released, they made sure they’d “hit it hard” as they ventured toward life outside WWE. As a result, he claimed they were “busier than a lot of people in the industry” during the two years they were away from WWE. 

The former Raw Tag Team Champion also opened up about how he’s “itching to get The O.C. moving,” especially after the addition of Michin. Falling in line with that, he said, is a singles run he hopes to receive sooner than later. 

“I don’t know why I wasn’t in the Money In The Bank match,” Anderson said. “Let’s get this rocking. AJ’s the World Champion, Gallows can be seen as the heater and throw me in the ladder match. I’m dying for it. I think it’s just more about timing and just kind of waiting for the right story. I’m pushing for it. I hope for it.”

Anderson was last seen on WWE television during last week’s SmackDown, where he, along with Gallows, fought the Brawling Brutes (Butch & Ridge Holland) to a no contest. 

Anderson’s stablemate AJ Styles is set to take on Karrion Kross on this week’s episode of the show. Anderson lost to Kross in singles action two weeks ago. 

WWE’s Karl Anderson loses NEVER title at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tama Tonga is the new NEVER Openweight Champion, defeating WWE’s Karl Anderson at Wrestle Kingdom 17 Wednesday morning.

Anderson cheap shotted Tonga at the start of the match, hitting him with the NEVER title. The finish of the match had Tama Tonga hit Anderson with a gun stun off the middle rope, then connected with a second gun stun to win the title for the second time. It was Anderson who defeated Tonga back on June 12 at Dominion.

Anderson, along with Luke Gallows, returned to WWE in October despite Anderson being NEVER Openweight Champion. A scheduled match against Hikuleo on November 5 was postponed, with the storyline reason being Anderson claiming he wasn’t booked through the proper channels, instead working WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. The match instead took place at the World Tag League/Super Junior Tag League finals, where Anderson defeated Hikuelo.

After the match, Tama Tonga came out and challenged Anderson. The two brawled, with Anderson laying out Tonga.

Rocky Romero details ‘stressful’ Good Brothers NJPW-WWE situation

Posted on by Joseph Currier

On the latest edition of The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Rocky Romero discussed the “stressful situation” of trying to juggle The Good Brothers’ WWE return with their NJPW appearances.

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows made their return to WWE this October, appearing on Raw for the first time since being released in April 2020. But despite coming back to WWE, Anderson is still NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Champion. Anderson’s return to WWE meant that he couldn’t make a scheduled title defense against Hikuleo on November 5 due to needing to be in Saudi Arabia for WWE Crown Jewel. The match was instead rescheduled for earlier this month, with Anderson defeating Hikuleo to retain the NEVER title.

Romero told Paquette that there was initially some confusion over the NJPW dates that The Good Brothers were going to be working, but the situation has been figured out and NJPW has turned it into a “big angle.” Anderson will again appear for NJPW when he defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4.

Romero said:

It’s been a very stressful situation for me [laughs]. Obviously, when the guys started talking about WWE had reached out to them, I of course started to get nervous because I knew that we had a bunch of dates set and everything and obviously, like you [Renee Paquette] said, Anderson was the NEVER Openweight Champion. I got worried and I said, ‘You know, you guys just don’t screw me over please.’ I was part of the reason that you guys came back and helped to, you know? Obviously, they left on good terms and everything, but just to bring them back was definitely a part of that.

So we started talking about that but then finally [Anderson] was like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna sign and somebody’s gonna have to talk to WWE.’ So of course that means me having to talk to WWE. But I got on the line and obviously, there was some confusion on the dates that they were gonna actually do and there was that November 5 show that Anderson had already been announced for for New Japan but then it was also the same time that the Saudi Arabia show was going on. Obviously there was gonna be conflict right there, so that’s kind of how it started. It started off real rocky and they went and did Saudi, we figured it out, got a new date, and then just decided to turn it into a big angle because I thought that was probably the best way to deal with it. Hoping that everything was gonna work out but not really sure. Finally, [Anderson] went and did this last show a couple days ago and successfully defended the title. So now he’ll be at the Tokyo Dome to face Tama Tonga, which is really exciting. Dude, this Tokyo Dome is gonna be insane. We have a WWE wrestler in Karl Anderson, we have Kenny Omega who’s an AEW wrestler, we’ve got Stardom wrestlers on the show, we’ve got New Japan wrestlers.

Paquette asked Romero what the odds are that AJ Styles could come to Wrestle Kingdom 17 with Anderson. “Anything is possible, Renee,” Romero responded. “Anything is possible.”

When indirectly asked about the rumors of Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) showing up at Wrestle Kingdom 17, Romero didn’t confirm or deny the appearance but promised that there will be surprises at the Tokyo Dome.

I’ve heard a lot of rumors but I don’t really — I cannot confirm nor deny at this moment. But you know, fingers crossed that — you never know what could happen. Definitely will be some surprises at the Tokyo Dome.

Karl Anderson retains NEVER title at NJPW Tag League finals

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Karl Anderson is still the NEVER Openweight Champion.

At Wednesday’s NJPW World Tag League/Super Jr. Tag League finals, Anderson successfully defended the NEVER title, pinning Hikeuleo after a gun stun. After the match, he cut a promo saying that he was the greatest NEVER Openweight Champion of all time and would hold the championship for all of eternity.

After those comments, Tama Tonga came out to challenge Anderson. The two ended up getting into a brawl, wth Anderson gaining the upper hand by delivering a gun stun to Tonga. Anderson then told Tonga he would see him at Wrestle Kingdom.

Anderson, along with Luke Gallows, returned to the WWE in October despite Anderson having won the NEVER title back in June. After a match between Hikuleo and Anderson was taken off of a November 5 card due to Anderson being in Saudi Arabia for WWE, the match was instead moved to December 14.

NJPW has since pushed that Anderson and Gallows are in WWE, using the narrative that Jay White now has Bullet Club members in all of the major promotions.

Wrestling Observer Radio: Dynamite, Becky Lynch, RAW updates, NXT, tons more

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including a very newsworthy edition of Dynamite, Dave hangs out with the Von Erichs, updates from RAW Monday, Karl Anderson to New Japan, a SECOND WrestleKingdom just announced, ratings, NXT, Rampage spoilers and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:

Start: Dave’s Hawaii vacation

7:09: WWE notes on Hell in a Cell, Mia Yim, Karl Anderson

13:15: Ratings

18:25: AEW Dynamite recap

44:38: NXT recap

55:29: NJPW holding second Wrestle Kingdom January 21 in Yokohama Arena

57:50: Rampage spoilers

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Karl Anderson vs. Hikuleo NEVER title match set for NJPW Tag League finals

Posted on by Ian Carey

The NEVER Openweight Championship will be defended on the final night of the World Tag and Super Junior Tag League tournaments. 

Champion Karl Anderson posted to social media on Tuesday that he will defend his title on the December 14 show from Sendai Sunplaza Hall in Miyagi, Japan. NJPW then confirmed on Wednesday that Anderson’s challenger will be Hikuleo.

Anderson vs. Hikuleo had originally been scheduled for November 5 in Osaka but The Good Brothers claim NJPW did not confirm the date with them before advertising it. Anderson and Doc Gallows were also booked for WWE Crown Jewel that day and stated on social media that they would be performing on that show rather than on New Japan’s. 

In storyline, Anderson was not stripped of the title at the request of Hikuleo. 

“As the match had been made through the proper channels and advertised, NJPW moved to strip Anderson of the NEVER Openweight Championship, but Hikuleo refused to let the move happen, demanding that he fight Anderson for the title in an NJPW ring. On November 23 Japan time, Anderson posted a message on social media indicating that he and Gallows would be in Sendai on December 14, and the match has now been made official,” reads NJPW1972.com

 The finals of the World Tag and Super Junior Tag League are also scheduled for the December 14 show in Sendai. 

Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows returning to NJPW at Tag League finals

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE’s Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are headed back to NJPW next month.

In a video posted to Anderson’s Instagram account on Tuesday, The OC announced that Anderson and Gallows will be in Japan for the World Tag League/Super Junior Tag League finals on Wednesday, December 14. It was stated that Anderson will be defending his NEVER Openweight Championship.

Anderson was scheduled to defend the NEVER Openweight title against Hikuleo at NJPW’s Battle Autumn event in Osaka on November 5, but that was the same day as WWE’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view. Anderson instead took part in a six-man tag match at the WWE event in Saudi Arabia.

There was a storyline where NJPW threatened to strip Anderson of the NEVER Openweight title if he doesn’t show up to Battle Autumn, but Hikuleo said he wanted to beat Anderson for the title instead.

Anderson has been NEVER Openweight Champion since winning the title from Tama Tonga at NJPW Dominion this June. This October, Gallows and Anderson returned to WWE, reuniting with AJ Styles and helping him even the odds against The Judgment Day.

Anderson & Gallows had been released by WWE during the company’s April 2020 roster cuts.

The Tag League finals are being held at Sendai Sunplaza Hall in Sendai, Japan.

The Good Brothers comment on WWE return, relationship with Triple H

Posted on by Ian Carey

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have opened up about being asked to return to WWE after having been released from the company in 2020. 

The Good Brothers appeared on After the Bell with Corey Graves and spoke about receiving a text from Paul “Triple H” Levesque during their final television taping with Impact Wrestling. 

“We had done the two years in Impact, thankful to them it was a great two years there but we wanted to recharge our batteries, wanted to hit Japan pretty hard,” Gallows said. “So, we were like, let’s take this time, let’s go to Japan through the new year and then let’s make a decision on what we want to do.”

“So, we’re in Dallas and we’re doing our last match with the Motor City Machine Guns and we get a text that says, ‘Hey guys, can we talk?'”

Gallows would continue to say that the text was from Levesque.

“We still didn’t know if this was something that we could do or wanted to do or what was going to come out of it after what happened the last time. Then we got on the phone and we could feel the new vibe and how positive everything was and one thing led to another from there.”

Anderson would then speak about their history with Triple H. 

“We always had a really good relationship with Triple H,” he said. “He was our guy when our contract was coming up in 2019, it was Hunter who we talked with and ended up signing a new deal with in 2019. So, we had a good relationship and I think that’s why when we got released, I held some angst.” 

Anderson continued to say they didn’t speak to Triple H, aside from one brief text exchange, for two and a half years following their release. In late August, they would speak with him again after Anderson and Gallows returned from Impact’s television taping in Dallas. 

“We get home and we do a facetime with Hunter, we talked, asked how the families were. We got asked if we wanted to come back, kind of talked out our issues, and said, ‘Hey, that was then, this is now, let’s push forward and go.'” 

“I’m getting chills now thinking about it because I didn’t think we’d ever have that talk again. Not just the business talk, to get the personal talk out. It was nice to get all that on the table, it’s over, let’s go, now we’re going forward.” 

“We still had to go back to Japan, we had to go on a 10-day tour, I had a singles match with Tanahashi. Then we had to go to England for New Japan, that was October 1 and 2 and nobody knew that we had already planned to do October 10 in New York City.”

Wrestling Observer Live: NXT and RAW line-ups, Karl Anderson, weekend results, more

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Karl Anderson and the NEVER Title, RAW and NXT line-ups, Smackdown notes, UNCLE HOWDY, Billy Gunn and the pliers, and tons more. A packed show as always so check it out~!

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Wrestling Observer Radio: A million weekend shows, tons of Japan news, reviews, more

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including A MILLION SHOWS, Rampage, Smackdown, Rumble on 44th Street and the Night Before, Defy with Filthy Tom vs. Suzuki, Smackdown spoilers, RAW preview, Karl Anderson and the NEVER Title, Nakamura vs. Muto and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:

Start: Defy live thoughts

4:58: Shinsuke Nakamura to wrestle The Great Muta in NOAH, Fujita vs. Kitomiya

8:50: Karl Anderson off NJPW Battle Autumn, show lineup

18:27: NJPW US weekend shows

30:25: Emma signs with WWE, Raw this Monday

32:46: SmackDown recap

44:21: SmackDown spoilers for this coming Friday

46:15: Jake Paul defeats Anderson Silva in boxing match

51:47: Rampage recap

1:04:14: Mailbag

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Karl Anderson off NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Karl Anderson is officially off NJPW’s Battle Autumn in Osaka show set for Saturday, November 5. 

NJPW has announced that Anderson, the company’s NEVER Openweight Champion, will not take part in Saturday’s event as previously advertised. Anderson had been scheduled to defend the NEVER title against Hikuleo. 

NJPW wrote in a statement: 

Despite extensive efforts by New Japan Pro-Wrestling to negotiate with Karl Anderson regarding his scheduled match in Osaka at Battle Autumn on November 5, NJPW officials have still been met with no response, and have been left with no other option but to cancel the planned NEVER Openweight Championship match.

We apologise to fans who had been looking forward to watching Anderson wrestle.

After a challenge from Yujiro Takahashi, and at the direct request of Hikuleo, Osaka will now see a non-title special singles match between Yujiro Takahashi and Hikuleo.

NJPW holds its champions to the highest standard of professionalism. We deeply apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by this matter. 

Anderson returned to WWE alongside tag partner Luke Gallows on the October 10 Raw episode, aligning with OC ally AJ Styles. Styles, Gallows, and Anderson vs. Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and Dominik Mysterio has since been announced for WWE Crown Jewel, also set for Saturday, November 5.

After his WWE debut, some NJPW talent, notably IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White tweeted about the WWE debut, indicating some sort of heads-up had been given to NJPW by Anderson, Gallows, and WWE. 

In the ensuing weeks, a storyline evolved on social media, with Anderson, Gallows, and NJPW officials issuing statements, with Gallows and Anderson stating that Anderson had been double booked for the date and that NJPW had not run the November 5 date past Gallows, with NJPW officials stating that champions are expected to appear as advertised. 

This appears to be some sort of elaborate work, as Anderson has not been stripped of the NEVER title, and will likely appear in NJPW to drop the Championship at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4. 

Hikuleo is now set to take on Bullet Club’s Yujiro Takahashi in a non-title match at Battle Autumn in Osaka. 

Wrestling Observer Live: NXT report, AEW preview, Laredo Kid, Karl Anderson, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including NXT from Tuesday night, a largely really good show with a few issues, AEW Dynamite preview for tonight, Loredo Kid update, New Japan adding women to their FITE shows this weekend, Karl Anderson and the NEVER title and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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NJPW releases statement on NEVER title match at Battle Autumn in Osaka

Posted on by Bryan Rose

NJPW has released a statement regarding Karl Anderson and the NEVER Openweight title, saying Anderson must defend the title on November 5 or he will be stripped of the championship.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, NJPW wrote that the match had been made “through the appropriate channels” and Anderson had expressed approval.

“NJPW has for the past several days attempted to negotiate with Anderson, but has not been met with a response,” NJPW wrote on their website. “Should Anderson decide to renege on his scheduled championship match, he will be required to vacate the NEVER Openweight Championship and return the title belt to NJPW immediately.”

A title match between Anderson and Hikuleo was made back on October 4. However, on October 10, Anderson and Luke Gallows returned to WWE on Raw, aiding AJ Styles against The Judgment Day. The following week, a six-man tag match that includes Anderson was made for WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, which takes place on the same day as NJPW’s Battle Autumn event in Osaka, November 5.

Anderson later released a video with Luke Gallows saying all the bookings run through him, and New Japan Pro Wrestling never booked the match with him. Anderson said they would be coming back to Japan on their time to defend the NEVER title.

Karl Anderson vs. Finn Balor added to WWE Raw

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Karl Anderson is set to go one-on-one with a former Bullet Club stablemate on tonight’s episode of Raw.

WWE has announced that Anderson vs. Finn Balor will take place on Raw tonight. It will be Anderson’s first singles match since returning to WWE.

Anderson & Luke Gallows made their WWE return two weeks ago, reuniting with AJ Styles and helping him even the odds against The Judgment Day. On last week’s Raw, Anderson & Gallows defeated Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable & Otis in tag team action.

A six-man tag match with Styles, Anderson & Gallows facing The Judgment Day (Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio) has been announced for WWE’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view, which is taking place in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 5.

Despite Anderson being announced for Crown Jewel, NJPW has stated that it’s doing everything it can to make sure Anderson’s NEVER Openweight Championship defense that’s scheduled for November 5 still happens. Anderson, who is supposed to defend the NEVER Openweight title against Hikuleo on that date, put out a video last week saying he’s “double booked’ and won’t be appearing at NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka.

Tonight’s Raw is being held at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here’s the updated lineup for the episode:

  • Non-title match: Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley
  • Karl Anderson vs. Finn Balor