Kazuchika Okada is All Elite, with his official signing coming last week on Dynamite, despite having interest from WWE. His full-time debut happened when he turned heel and aligned with The Young Bucks to attack Eddie Kingston.
Okada would be joining The Elite as they all shook hands. He also made the title belt gesture around his waist, setting up a future match, and Okada joined The Elite as they all shook hands. Okada and The Young Bucks were in action at the Collision TV tapings.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that internally, AEW is very happy with the move, and the decision to turn his heel was made well ahead of even Okada signing with AEW as AEW President Tony Khan came up with the idea as far back as around the holidays.
It was said, “Khan has long been of the belief, even before AEW, that Okada can be a major heel star on American wrestling TV.” It was added that his performances last week only solidified that with the company considering it a home run.
Okada’s facial expressions were received really well by those in the company, and the hope is that in AEW, he can do things differently than he’s ever done in wrestling in the past. The company is also said to be very confident in the chemistry that the Young Bucks had, something they were anticipating based on the past.
AEW officials were also very happy with the response to the Collision segments that Okada was part of as the promotion “felt it was important to time his debut for immediately after Sting retired, to give them another big star in a big spot.”
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