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What's the story?
After months of speculation that former IWGP and ROH Tag Team Champions War Machine are on WWE's radar and expected to sign imminently, if they haven't already, one half of the tag team has just given an emotional farewell speech to independent wrestling at a Chaotic Wrestling event.
In case you didn't know...
War Machine and Ricochet have all been strongly linked with WWE and appear to be slowly finishing up their committed independent wrestling dates.
We reported last week that all three were seemingly on their way to WWE with a deal apparently already done - with an update on Ricochet earlier today that saw him give an equally emotional speech at a PWG show.
The heart of the matter
New Age Insiders are a podcasting empire with huge links to Chaotic Wrestling and they've been hinting over the past few months that War Machine are on their way to NXT. They had previously also hinted that Donovan Dijak would be signed to WWE in a move that came to fruition in September.
NAI posted this video of Warbeard Hanson giving an emotional goodbye on Twitter earlier today, hinting that he was on his way to NXT.
Raymond Rowe also appears to be finishing up his indie dates and it's expected Hanson and Rowe will appear as a team.
What's next?
Well, there's no doubt that War Machine already have the credentials to be champions on the main roster of WWE, but virtually no-one jumps straight to the WWE main roster immediately from the independents these days, unless your name is AJ Styles.
There are already some HUGE tag teams in NXT, with the Undisputed Era, Authors of Pain and SAnitY already seeming like potential dream matches - not to mention the similarly named Heavy Machinery, which could lead us to believe that War Machine may not retain their name when they sign. Although who knows? We could even see a new stable formed...
Either way, these guys will be a MASSIVE addition to NXT when they announce their arrival.
Author's take
Well, even the more casual WWE fan is probably at least slightly familiar with the name War Machine, and if not, you just have to take one look at these guys to see their potential. Two big, bruising wrestlers - but both have the ability to shock you, particularly Hanson with his high-flying (yes, you read that right) style.
With NXT Takeover just around the corner, we may even see these guys debut very soon!
