Jim Cornette believes WWE will not get into a bidding war with Tony Khan over top free agent

Tony Khan's AEW and their rival competition, WWE, have their eyes firmly planted on the free agent market as of late. However, wrestling veteran Jim Cornette believes that the global juggernaut would not go head-to-head with TK to sign one of the biggest Japanese stars.

Of course, we are talking about none other than Kazuchika Okada. The Rainmaker emerged as one of the biggest sensations in Japanese wrestling, known for his hard-hitting style and exceptional in-ring acumen. However, it was announced that Okada would leave his current promotion, NJPW, at the end of January 2024.

During a recent edition of his Drive-Thru podcast, Jim Cornette believed Okada's star power would not be an attraction for WWE to pay top dollar for him, something that Tony Khan does to get the best talent for his AEW roster.

"If the WWE is interested at all in Okada and, your sources say, magic 8 ball says, they are, then naturally also it's also a Japanese superstar. Tony is going to open his father's checkbook and back up the brink's truck because, 'Oh My God, this is one of the rarest collectibles in wrestling. The biggest star in Japan, my ever-dwindling fan base will cr**m their jeans over this.'"

The former wrestling manager's belief came on account of Okada being an unproven talent in the US territory, where it is an entirely different ball game than in Japan.

"But if he does that, then the WWE that's running a business will say, 'Well, it would have been nice if we could have got this guy at a reasonable rate, but we are not f**kin' gonna get into a bidding war with this goof over an unproved talent in this country, in this style,'" Cornette said. [4:23-5:17]

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Tony Khan has signed some big free agents in recent months

As far as AEW is concerned, it has been very active in signing top stars to the company.

Over the past few months, Tony Khan has brought top-tier attractions like Adam Copeland, Ric Flair, and Deonna Purrazzo to his promotion, with reports of stars like Mercedes Mone also on the way.

However, it can be argued that Kazuchika Okada is the hottest free agent available for the wrestling giants. Therefore, it remains to be seen if Tony Khan will continue his spree of signing big names and eventually bring The Rainmaker to AEW.

Where do you think Kazuchika Okada will show up next? Sound off in the comments section below.

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Please credit Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru and give an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription if you use any quotes from this article.