Karl Anderson tells New Japan he’s working Crown Jewel, not Nov. 5 title defense

When Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows showed up on the Oct. 10 Raw, there were questions about the Bullet Club and O.C. members’ status with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Of particular interest was Anderson and the NEVER Openweight championship he holds for New Japan. Eyebrows raised when Gallows & Anderson were booked alongside AJ Styles for a trios match at WWE Crown Jewel on Nov. 5 in Saudi Arabia, because NJPW was already promoting an Anderson title defense against Hikuleo at their Battle Autumn show on the same date.

Fans researched flight times to see if Anderson could pull a Rick Rude, and it didn’t look possible. Now, in a video posted on social media, The Good Brothers have confirmed he won’t be in Japan on the first Saturday of November:

Gallows: You guys announced Bright Lights, the Machine Gun Karl Anderson for a match Nov. 5. Well guess what? We’re a little double booked, because you didn’t run it through me. So he ain’t coming. We’re not coming unless it’s on our time. Tell ‘em, Bright Lights.

Anderson: [Bleeped, with a Bullet Club logo] at gmail dot com, that’s his shoot email. [Nods at Gallows] That’s my booking agent. New Japan Pro-Wrestling, listen — I love what you’ve done for The Good Brothers through these years, but let me tell ya something. I am the greatest NEVER Openweight champion of all time. I only work when the lights are bright, and Nov. 5? We ain’t coming. We’ll come on our time. Machine Gun will tell you when I’m coming to defend my championship.

Gallows: Fatten that envelope, too.

If your angle alert senses are tingling... Machine Gun and the Big LG are very much in character here (not that they ever aren’t), and NJPW jack-of-all-trades Rocky Romero commented on the Instagram version of the above video to say:

Karl Anderson’s Instagram

Whether or not New Japan strips Anderson of the NEVER Openweight belt should tell us more. That’s what they did just a few months ago when Juice Robinson held the IWGP United States championship and posted a similar video. The company hasn’t commented on The Good Brothers statement as of this writing.