Karl Anderson has at least one New Japan date left after returning to WWE

Reports went around yesterday afternoon that Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows would be making their way back to WWE to stand by AJ Styles side. Since they indicated the trio had recently been spotted filming something in Washington, D.C. — and since Anderson is the reigning NEVER Openweight champion for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the assumption was The Good Brothers/OC duo wouldn’t show up on Raw for a few weeks yet.

Now we know that assumption was wrong (making an ass out of u, and mption), because Gallows & Anderson showed up on last night’s episode, teaming with Styles to kick The Judgement Day’s asses and send Finn Bálor running like a scalded dog.

But what about their New Japan commitments?

Gallows will be wrestling on this weekend’s episode of NJPW Strong. It’s a timely bit of promotional luck, but the match was taped last month, so it doesn’t tell us much...

The bigger issue is Anderson and his title. New Japan updated the card he’s supposed to defend the belt on this morning, and his match with Bullet Club’s Hikuleo is still listed second for Nov. 5’s Battle Autumn in Osaka.

njpw1972.com

Presumably, Anderson will drop the title there and focus on being a WWE Superstar again. Under Vince McMahon’s leadership, it wasn’t unheard of for a newly signed wrestler to finish their commitments elsewhere. This is probably just Triple H allowing Machine Gun to do the same thing.

But if he did allow The Good Brothers to continue to work sporadically in Japan — and after their Impact contracts expired, Anderson told Sports Illustrated that he & Gallows had “verbally agreed upon dates with New Japan Pro-Wrestling for an extended period of time” — it would certainly send a message to future free agents weighing a decision between AEW and WWE.

Stay tuned, and let us know if you’re excited for Judgement Day vs. The Club while you’re at it.