What’s the story?
Canadian pro-wrestler Kyle O’Reilly could still sign with the WWE and is in fact expected to do so, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. O’Reilly is still taking independent dates and the common belief is that he isn’t going to stay in the indies much longer.
In case you didn’t know...
The 30-year old wrestled in, both NJPW and ROH until recently, and has won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice with Bobby Fish and the ROH World Championship once. He has also won the ROH Tag Team Championships thrice with Bobby Fish.
The ‘Mixed Martial Artist’, as he is also known, was ranked 32 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016.
The heart of the matter
During his recent tenure in the indies, O’Reilly has been putting over a lot of talent, instead of being the centre of focus. This has given rise to speculation that he will move on to greener pastures.
He has been scheduled for EVOLVE shows in the month of April and May and rumour has it that he will be handed a contract by the WWE in the coming future. The offer has reportedly been delayed because ROH has threatened to take legal action against the WWE on the grounds of contract tampering.
What’s next?
As mentioned above, O’Reilly will work shows in EVOLVE during April and May and will probably continue to work in the indies until he is offered a contract with the WWE. The brand that O’Reilly will finally join is currently unknown but it’s likely that NXT will be his destination if he were to sign with the WWE.
Author’s take
NXT recently lost the services of Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura and Tye Dillinger, among others, and with the addition of talent like McIntyre and the possible acquisition of O’Reilly its safe to say that the brand will have the star power to build on its excellent work so far.
However, it is safe to say that he will be offered the contract only once the WWE irons out the legal issues surrounding his acquisition.
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