In what will surely never be called a talent raid in a WWE Network special, reports from F4WOnline.com are saying that AJ Styles, IWGP Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows will all be heading to World Wrestling Entertainment after their commitments to other companies are complete.
AJ Styles
Styles, 38, has been the “one that got away” for the WWE since 2001. Back then, the young Phenomenal One was offered a development deal with the company and opted instead to sign with the brand new NWA:TNA, who promised him immediate exposure. Styles had been the franchise of TNA Wrestling for a decade, with multiple match of the year candidates and multiple title reigns. He ended his tenure with TNA in 2013 in an angle where he walked out of the company as World champion. He returned in a unification match being beaten by Magnus. Upon leaving TNA, Styles was heavily rumoured to goto WWE but instead worked in AAA, Ring of Honor and most notably New Japan Pro Wrestling. He immediately entered as a member of the Bullet Club and won the IWGP Heavyweight championship in his first match against Kazuchika Okada at Wrestling Dontaku 2014. He lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi in his third match.
Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura, 35, is generally considered the most charismatic wrestler in the world. Already a member of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, the 6’2”, 229lb “King of Strong Style” truly came into his own in 2011 as the leader of Chaos, adding the finisher “Boma Ye”, named after the chant fans in Zaire would chant to Muhammed Ali in his fight with George Forman. Nakamura is a three time IWGP Heavyweight champion, one time IWGP Tag team champion with Tanahashi, 2014 New Japan Cup winner and a five time and current reigning IWGP Intercontinental champion. He has been associated with NJPW for most of his career, though he has worked professional MMA bouts with a 3-1-1 record.
Karl Anderson
Anderson, 35, was trained by the great Les Thatcher in 2000 and first made his name in the National Wrestling Association, where he was repackaged into “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson and given the Anderson spinebuster as a finish. He is now longer considered associated with the Anderson family. After a cup of coffee with PWG, his experience in the NWA led to coming to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he has wrestled for since 2008. Anderson has often been associated with factions, from the Great Heel Bash (GHB) to Chaos, where he formed Bad Intentions with Giant Bernard (Albert, Tensai) as one of the best known gaijin tag teams in Japan. Bad Intentions defended the IWGP tag championship a record 10 times and held the titles for 564 days. The team disbanded when Bernard went to the WWE. Anderson soon joined Bullet Club and after a short lived team with Hirooki Goto called Swords and Guns, began tag teaming with new Bullet Club member Doc Gallows. Gallows and Anderson are three time IWGP tag team champions.
Doc Gallows
Gallows, 32, is best known to WWE fans for being Luke Gallows, the bodyguard of CM Punk in the Straight Edge Society. He also worked as Festus and an imposter Kane. He was released from the WWE in 2010, working the independents before showing up in TNA Wrestling to be a member of Aces and Eights. He worked in TNA until 2013 where he went to New Japan Pro Wrestling to join the Bullet Club, where he immediately became aligned with Karl Anderson. He’s married to Amber Gallows, formerly known in the American independent scene as Amber O’Neal.
If they goto WWE
I don’t expect Shinsuke Nakamura or AJ Styles to spend any time in NXT, even if they need to learn the WWE style. They are just too big of stars to be wasting time there. Maybe the WWE does attempt to humble them, but I can’t see those two guys, who were easily making over $300,000 per year in New Japan Pro Wrestling leaving to goto WWE and work their Florida circuit for anything longer than a cup of coffee. These are big stars who should be treated like big stars. Every day they spend in NXT instead of the WWE main roster is a waste, and probably detrimental to why WWE signed them in the first place: they need fresh stars.
Anderson and Gallows could be kept as a tag team together to be Styles muscle, or could have other ideas for them. Anderson has always had singles wrestling potential while Gallows is extremely versatile on any roster.
The most interesting signing for me is Nakamura, who is leaving NJPW, the company he has always worked for. He has the kind of size and skill the WWE hasn’t had for a Japanese wrestler since Genichiro Tenryu worked in the WWF at Wrestlemania VII, as well as the 1993 and 1994 Royal Rumble. His style might not translate to WWE casual fans, but he has enough charisma and talent that it would just take the WWE handling him properly.
As for AJ Styles, it all depends on how the WWE treats him. He could be WWE champion. He could be a mistake. It’s all in how WWE decides to handle a guy whose career was defined by making his name without them.
