Rumor killer on Kazuchika Okada's AEW salary - Reports

The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada made his AEW debut at this past week's Dynamite. Rumors about his salary with the promotion have since spread all over social media, however, recent reports have given an important update on the matter.

The Rainmaker was one of the hottest free agents in professional wrestling before this Wednesday. Okada reportedly had offers from major promotions like WWE and TNA, however, Tony Khan once again won the bidding war for another top free agent and signed Kazuchika Okada to the Jacksonville-based promotion.

The former NJPW star made his debut on Dynamite during the segment between The Young Bucks and Eddie Kingston where he surprisingly turned heel and aligned himself with The Bucks. After beating up Kingston, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson officially welcomed Okada to The Elite.

On the recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the rumors about Kazuchika Okada's AEW deal being worth $4.5 million were denied. However, it was confirmed that the original number is still very huge as compared to other talents in the company.

"Kazuchika Okada’s AEW deal being worth $4.5 million per year is not accurate at all. The real number is considerably lower, but it was still a very large number that he signed for. - WON"

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AEW star Lance Archer sent out a warning to Kazuchika Okada before his signing

Former WWE star Lance Archer competed against Kazuchika Okada numerous times during their time together in NJPW. However, Archer recently had some interesting words for The Rainmaker. Speaking on Casual Conversations with The Classic, Lance Archer stated that he would knock his former rival's teeth out upon his All Elite Wrestling arrival.

"A lot of people were, from my understanding, were very happy with it, very excited about it. It was kind of another one of those, they know who Okada is. He’s The Rainmaker, he was the heavyweight champion many times over, biggest star in New Japan at the time, and one of the biggest in the history of New Japan, and I’ve had a couple of those moments in my career. Will Ospreay, who just showed up with us, having matches with him where people knew who Will Ospreay was and how amazing he is, and was at the time, but they just didn’t understand what I was able to do in the ring. When I stepped it up with him, it opened a lot of people’s eyes. Fast-forward with Okada, it was kind of the same scenario in the G1. If he does, I’m excited about knocking the teeth out of the Rainmaker yet again," Archer said. [H/T: Fightful]

Kazuchika Okada surprisingly debuted for AEW as a heel which opens up some interesting possibilities for The Rainmaker in the company. It will be interesting to see how long his heel run lasts.