Fightful: Jay White Expected to leave NJPW.

35 comments

1. Couple things here. Jay loves working sheets. Secondly, signing with WWE is risky at the moment, even if HHH promises you the world, Vince could take over at any time and tell you to fuck off and job you out to Baron Corbin.

2. Fair. NJPW failed to capitalize on the momentum he had the last time his contract came up (for reasons out of their hands mind you) and dude has kinda been spinning his wheels since. If he can get a better deal stateside then great.

3. Would be a substantial loss to have your top heel and one of your best wrestlers leave in the middle of his prime. That being said, aside from the 2022 G1 and a few big shows in 2022, he really hasn’t been around since the 2021 NJC, which is almost two years ago now.

   What’s missing from this report and the click bait title is any indication on Jay’s end that he wants to leave. The fact that WWE and AEW want him isn’t surprising, but unless he’s solely looking for big money and no overseas travel, only New Japan can offer him the top booking opportunities and high spot on the card.

4. What would the story be to bring him into AEW? I’d just have him do Adam Cole’s role. Go straight for Kenny.

5. There’s been rumours about WWE being interested for years (which company wouldn’t be, tbf), and he lives over in Florida so it makes sense he’d stay there rather than stick with NJPW.

   Unlike when this happened after WK15 I’m not sure I would be that bothered now. He’s still a loss for NJPW, but he’s felt uninterested since the start of the pandemic, even when he was champ, and there really isn’t much else for him to do as the Switchblade imo, so unless you can tie him down longterm and do a slow-burn babyface turn, I’m not sure it’s as major as loss as it would’ve seemed at once point.

   It also feels like they’ve kinda given elements of his character arc to Ospreay.

6. If he wants to live in America permanently and field the best offers, probably gonna have to wait in 2023 to see what the fuck happens with the WWE Sale and Creative

7. Hikuleo Jay White double count out

8. I’m of the mind he will still have a deal with NJPW. Similar to Takeshita with DDT/AEW. Jay will move back to America and work AEW/ROH while still coming to NJPW for big shows and promoting NJPW on other stages.

9. Jay is rumored to leave New Japan every year around Royal Rumble time, I’ll believe it when I see it.

10. It would break my heart if he went to the E. Even aew a bit. I wish he could stay in Japan.

11. I don’t trust any wrestling news site so this means very little to me, but the thought of Jay White getting kicked out of NJPW by Hikuleo of all people is very funny

12. Probably AEW. Like Juice he can still work with us but his main thing will be AEW

13. I think Jay would do great in any company. He could be a top, top heel for WWE though.

14. For the love of god, keep the Switchblade away from WWE. I really couldn’t bear it if he went there. It be interesting if he went to AEW as a potential candidate for dethroning MJF and feuding with Omega and Hangman.

15. I hope he swerves all of us and re-signs with NJPW, but I doubt it. I honestly see him going to WWE ( I expect them to back the brinks truck up to his front door).

    I would say AEW, but Tony Khan tends to fumble certain talents that aren’t The Elite, Moxley, Jericho, or MJF, and I def don’t want to see Jay White get the Miro treatment.

16. Jay white would be wwe’s best signing in the last god knows how long. Megastar in the making

17. He is gone to WWE then. Well, it is what it is.

18. If it’s his time to go, then so be it. But NJPW really needs to start locking in these Gaijin talent. This is getting ridiculous.

19. I honestly wonder who would be his replacement as Bullet Club leader? None of the current members are really pushed enough at the moment to make it an easy guess.

    He would probably do well enough in a HHH led WWE but I shudder to think what Vince would do with him.

20. This would be so sad to see. Switchblade will of course do great wherever he goes, but he is perfect for NJPW. It’d be like Kenny leaving. Sure Kenny has done good stuff in AEW, but his one match with Ospreay was better than anything he did the past 4 years. You just can’t have that same quality in WWE or AEW compared to NJPW.

21. Jay leaving will br a much bigger loss than Hikuleo.

    A shame to see him go if he does.

    Jay White in his njpw run has to be one of my favourite heels I’ve seen tbh

    But yeah if he signs with wwe or aew he’ll be closer to his family and will probably be payed more so some pretty big benefits would come if jay signed with one of the 2 major american promotions.

22. He’s barely 30 yo, can do great promos and has a great presentation, he’s perfect for WWE

23. Love Jay, he’s my favorite wrestler in the company. I totally understand him wanting to be in America since he lives there. If he leaves I just hope he goes to AEW instead of WWE.

24. Jay is a liar I’ll believe he’s leaving njpw when he’s doing a photo with hhh. This is essentially what they did after WK 15 and they went to the effort of taking down his profile on the website and removing him from advertising. It’s just as likely they are just redoing an aborted storyline that got dropped because of covid.

    But all foreign wrestlers who have good size and ability will eventually be highly likely to try their luck in the US. Especially the wwe. The upside for success in the wwe is gigantic. They have a huge global reach. Mania does gates of like 100k. Obviously the wwe has downsides too but I’m sure a guy like Jay is willing to bet on himself.

    Njpw i think handles this pretty well. They just move guys into different spots and keep on trucking. If Jay was to leave then someone like zsj might get his stories. Njpw has lost bigger stars. If we are realistic Kenneth omega was a bigger star in Japan. They survived that fine. 2019 had growth across all major tours besides the bosj* showing they missed hiromu more.

    I think were okada to go before the next ace got established that would be a problem in a way the wwe initially struggled when Cena went part time and reigns wasn’t ready. The wwe suffered a fall in live attendance for a good while when Cena wasn’t full time. He also held ratings better. However I think njpw would probably just slot Naito in the ace spot in the short term but they’ve proven remarkably good at just moving on from talent going

    *the bosj did ultimately end up doing more overall as a tour but lagged behind until the final. Ospreay v shingo was at sumo hall versus hiromu v ishimori at korakuen. So the final ended up just bumping 2019 bosj ahead of 2018

25. It’s been a good run and it’ll be sad to see him leave but life goes on

26. Really hoping he goes to WWE. Every single time he made brief appearances in AEW he was never treated like the star that he is.

27. NJPW keeps building gaijins that keep leaving. They haven’t learned their lesson from Prince Devitt, AJ Styles, and Kenny Omega. If you’re going to build a gaijin expect them to leave and wrestle near their home country. They haven’t built anyone to take over from Okada thats going to stay.

28. I’ve always said it’s only a matter of time before White goes to WWE and Will goes to AEW.

29. Could see him landing in AEW, he likes Florida, the schedule is more laxed compared to WWE and also if with AEW he can still work NJPW if he chooses to for feuds etc with AEW’s partnership

30. I feel like if jay was leaving New Japan they would just make WK17 his last match. Then at new years dash make bullet club betray him like they did with AJ. This all seems like a storyline and I believe New Japan is trying to put doubt in all of us that jay is actually leaving.

31. Jay loves quitting New Japan almost as much as he enjoys cutting lengthy promos, so he’d be perfect for American wrestling.

32. He’s working

33. He has a kid on the way. Take the WWE’s money and stay in the US, Jay.

34. For fuck’s sake, *Fightful was just reporting last week that WWE was interested in signing Hikuleo.* This dirt sheet has been using the “Loser Leaves Japan” match to milk smarks desperate to have the outcome of that match spoiled for them for subscriber money.

    I understand the need to know whether a wrestler that fans of a certain promotion really enjoy is going to be moving elsewhere, but what I don’t understand is this need to divine the outcome of matches through dirt sheet gossip, and that’s what Fightful is exploiting with all these “exclusives.”

    Jay has been putting up stellar character work as a talented but insecure main eventer desperately searching for someone to blame for his own failings, and that madness has driven him to demand a match that could cost him everything.

    Hikuleo is getting booked as a badass monster gaijin with a fierce loyalty to his family, showing promise to follow in the footsteps of his brother and his uncle in a country that made his family wrestling royalty in Tonga. Now he’s about to risk all of that to prove to Jay and the world that Bullet Club screwing over its most loyal members was the biggest mistake they could have ever made.

    This is genuinely compelling storytelling that doesn’t even need a championship to give it enormous stakes, and instead of talking about the incredible work these two are putting in right before our eyes, the focus is on what some “insiders” say these two guys MIGHT be saying in phone calls with Khan and Haitch that MIGHT have actually happened.

    Can’t we just enjoy the ride and table this until after New Beginning?

35. Good. Time to give ZSJ the main event push he deserved for so long, more space for Shingo to shine too.