AJPW has just released a video on social media featuring company President Fukuda, wearing plush reindeer antlers, in a nice hotel room with several women dressed scantily like Mrs. Claus. One of them is banging a steel pot of some kind lightly off his head, which makes everyone laugh. All of a sudden, the phone rings, and it is someone speaking English on the other line. Fukuda quickly realizes it is a representative from WWE and gets everyone to be quiet.
Fukuda thanks the WWE rep for calling him back and notes it has been a while since they talked. He then says that AJPW is looking to book one of the strongest stars they have from their WWE NXT brand. We cannot hear what the WWE rep responds, but Fukuda agrees with whatever it is and states, “Yes, a triple crown match,” before saying something about how the match would be against current AJPW Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima.
“Do you have a good Superstar for us?” Fukuda inquired.
Fukuda then reacts with confusion and says something about how the match would be a submission match and “catch as catch-style.” He agreed with whatever the proposed match was, thanked the WWE rep, and asked them to send his thanks to their boss at WWE. The segment ends with the President proposing he and all the women eat high-grade sushi before one of them gives him an even bigger steel pot as a present. He does not bang it on his head.
The way the tease came across, it would point to one of the members of WWE NXT’s No Quarter Catch Club competing for the triple crown. The current members of the stable are Drew Gulak, Charlie Dempsey, Damon Kemp, and Myles Borne.
The news that AJPW and WWE will be working together comes just hours after it was announced that Hiroshi Tanahashi is the new NJPW President and Representative Director. With Paul “Triple H” Levesque firmly in control of the WWE creative process, it will be interesting to see how far he deviates away from Vince McMahon’s aversion to working with outside entities.