Please tell us ‘Machine Gun’ Karl Anderson is headed back to NJPW

Yesterday saw the unfortunate release of several WWE superstars, but we could already have good news with Karl Anderson hinting at a return to NJPW.

There’s no denying how dark things felt yesterday. Karl Anderson was just one of many WWE superstars spontaneously released by the company despite WWE’s financial ability to keep them employed.

While no one should be celebrating these releases, even for underutilized talent, we might already have a silver lining on the horizon.

Karl Anderson, who had previously been with Luke Gallows and AJ Styles in WWE as The OC, posted this short video on his Twitter earlier today.

The 19 second teaser implies a trip from Santa Monica, CA to Tokyo, Japan. It ends with “Machine Gun” coming on the screen, and the all too familiar sound of a machine gun firing that would play during Karl Anderson’s entrances in his NJPW days.

Of course, nothing is official, but Karl Anderson has sent a crystal clear message here. This likely won’t be happening right away, for several reasons. The first is that, understandably, NJPW still isn’t running shows due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

On top of that, Sean Ross Sapp reported that main roster talent also have a 90-day non-compete clause in their contracts. If that sticks, we wouldn’t see Anderson even able to compete again until July. Ideally, NJPW will be back to normal by then, but there’s no telling if that will actually be the case.

Even if we have to wait, it would be a very welcome return for Anderson. While some WWE fans may only know him for his work with Styles and Gallows, Anderson is an 18-year in-ring veteran who spent 8 of those years in NJPW.

During his tenure, Anderson became a 4-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. Three of those reigns were with Luke Gallows, who was also released yesterday by WWE, and one was with Giant Bernard, who is better known today as NXT Head Trainer Matt Bloom.

It’s not clear if Gallows could be following Anderson back to NJPW, but even if he didn’t, there’s no shortage of things for Anderson to do. As a founding member of Bullet Club, we can almost certainly expect to see him back at the side of Tama Tonga and the current incarnation of Bullet Club.

While most of his success in NJPW came as a tag team specialist, Karl Anderson is an accomplished singles competitor and definitely has the tenure and skill set to hold his own in NJPW against names like Tomohiro Ishii, KENTA, Kota Ibushi, and Tetsuya Naito in what would be instant classics.

Hopefully, this hint by Anderson means he’s safe and well with his family, and a return to his home away from home could be on the horizon. Honestly, I would give almost anything to hear “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson introduced in NJPW just one more time.