Kazhuchika Okada, arguably the biggest star in NJPW today, attended WWE Summerslam in Brooklyn last week and was backstage for the event. The IWGP Heavyweight Champion was spotted alongside Shinsuke Nakamura and Hideo Itami and it instantly created a lot of buzz and speculation regarding the 28-year-old’s status in either NJPW or WWE.
According to PWInsider.com, Okada was at SummerSlam strictly as Shinsuke Nakamura’s guest and was not there to negotiate with WWE. Okada is under contract with NJPW right now and cannot legally negotiate with WWE:
Below is a photo of Nakamura, Okada and Hideo Itami backstage in Brooklyn:
Okada has been a mainstay in New Japan for nine years now. Given Okada’s rise, there has been increased interest in his work and it’s not a surprise that WWE likes the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion. However, there has never been anything on him wanting to leave NJPW for the United States for a second time, though, after a terrible TNA run.
In the past eight months, we have seen a lot of NJPW stars flock to WWE . The list features AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Shinsuke Nakamura. Initially, everybody thought that at least one of them would really convince, Okada to come to WWE.
But in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Okada said that he wasn’t surprised by seeing the Current NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles competing in WWE. He added that many Japanese wrestlers wanted him to come to the WWE but he ruled out any chances of making a move to the biggest promotion in the world.
Considering that Okada is a crowd puller and as highly rated a star as compared to AJ Styles and Nakamura, there is increased speculation that he could be the next big star to jump to the WWE.
On the other hand, no one has seized the spotlight in Japan like the current IWGP Champion and he will be the star for the next decade. Also, there is no denying the fact that Vince Mcmahon’s company never treated the Japanese wrestlers well in the past, and this could be one of the reasons why the four time IWGP Champion is showing less interest in the WWE.
After all, Okada is currently under contract to New Japan Pro Wrestling, as he signed a one-year contract extension in December 2015. After losing AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura to WWE, NJPW is reportedly looking to offer Okada a new five-year ¥200 million contract.
