After weeks of speculation, we now know where a major free agent will be headed.
As first reported by FightfulSelect.com, Kazuchika Okada is headed to All Elite Wrestling. The deal was said to have been agreed to within the last couple of weeks and unless something unforeseen happens, he’s expected to sign with AEW. The company was reportedly confident that they would sign him as far back as mid-January, which is around the time that he announced that he was leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling.
There was serious interest in Okada from WWE. They have tried to sign him for years but this year, the feeling was that there was more of a chance than before. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Shinsuke Nakamura’s push happened, in part, because they wanted to show Okada that this was a new regime and that he would be treated as a top talent. When Vince McMahon was in charge, oftentimes foreign wrestlers would be used as low to mid-card talent and sometimes would play stereotypical characters. That hasn’t been the case with Nakamura under Triple H.
Okada has friends in both companies and he’s said to be really good friends with The Young Bucks. He has worked with AEW before and is said to have been happy with how he was treated by Tony Khan and everyone in AEW that he worked with. There is no word on his official AEW start date but he’s not expected to start until he finishes up his commitments with NJPW.
