It appears Karl Anderson may still defend his NEVER Openweight Championship after all

Even Karl Anderson probably can’t be in Saudi Arabia and Japan on the same day, but it might be all good anyway.

Karl Anderson has made his way back to WWE alongside partner Luke Gallows, but he still holds a NJPW singles title. Normally, that would be the end of his reign; Gallows would drop the championship and that would be that. But as often heard in very different contexts, these are unprecedented times, and it appears Anderson may still defend his NEVER Openweight Championship after all.

While it was reported that Anderson would be allowed to fulfill some remaining NJPW commitments even after signing with WWE, that plan got called into question once Anderson and Gallows were announced for Crown Jewel in a six-man tag with AJ Styles against The Judgment Day. That event is set for Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5, the same day Anderson was supposed to have a title defense against Hikuleo.

NJPW has that match still listed on its site for Battle Autumn ’22 in Osaka, and then put out a statement suggesting that Anderson would have to vacate his championship if he’s in Saudi Arabia and not Japan on that day. But Hikuleo took to Twitter to suggest he’s fine with waiting for his title shot.

And Anderson replied saying he has no intention of dropping the belt.

So what gives here? Fightful Select reports that things are all good between NJPW and WWE, and while it doesn’t know about the specifics around the NEVER Openweight Championship, “there still are and always have been active plans for Karl Anderson to compete in NJPW.”

“Beyond that, we’re told that New Japan has been aware that Anderson and Gallows were heading to WWE as far back as August, and that’s when the deal was hammered out,” the outlet added.

That suggests that this being pro wrestling and all, this could all be — you guessed it — an angle to stir up some extra interest in Anderson’s remaining NJPW appearances. We’ll have to see where this all goes next, but while this isn’t exactly a Forbidden Door-style situation, even this level of cooperation between NJPW and WWE is something no one would have expected just a few short months ago.