"A very stressful situation" - 9-time champion says that NJPW had an unsteady start to their relationship with WWE over Karl Anderson

Karl Anderson has appeared for both WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling. He recently defended his NEVER Openweight Championship over in Japan.

Speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions, Rocky Romero opened up on how WWE and NJPW worked out a deal between themselves regarding the Anderson situation.

Romero, a 9-time champion in NJPW, claimed that the relationship got off to a 'rocky' start and it was quite stressful for him to deal with.

"It's been a very stressful situation for me. Obviously, when the guys started talking about WWE had reached out to them. I, of course, started to get nervous because I knew we had a bunch of dates set and everything. Anderson was the NEVER Openweight Champion. I got worried and said, 'Just don't screw me over.' I was part of the reason they came back. Obviously, they left on good terms, but to bring them back I was part of that. We started talking about that. Finally, he was like, 'We're going to sign and somebody is going to have to talk to WWE.' Of course, that means me. I got on the line and there was some confusion on the dates they were actually going to do," said Rocky Romero. [H/T: Fightful]

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Rocky Romero mentioned how NJPW worked the Karl Anderson situation into an angle

In continuation of the same conversation, Rocky Romero mentioned how NJPW turned Karl Anderson's situation into a storyline with Hikuleo while he was committed to appearing at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

Romero also hyped up Anderson's upcoming title defense with Tama Tonga, whom he will face at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

"There was the November 5th show that Anderson had already been announced for New Japan, but it was the same time the Saudi Arabia show was going on. Obviously, there was going to be a conflict right there. It started off real rocky. They went and did Saudi, we figured it out, got a new date and decided to turn it into a big angle because I thought that was the best way to deal with it, hoping that everything was going to work out, but not really sure. Finally, he went and did this last show and successfully defended the title, so now he'll be at the Tokyo Dome to face Tama Tonga," added Rocky Romero." added Rocky Romero.

Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga came face-to-face after the NEVER Openweight Champion's title defense at the NJPW Tag League Finals. The two men will cross paths once again in early 2023.

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