An interesting free agent has had conversations in America.
In early January, Fightful Select reported that New Japan Pro Wrestling's Kevin Knight was effectively a free agent as his contract with the company had expired. That week, he and KUSHIDA dropped the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.
We've since learned more about his deal, or lack thereof. Since that expiration, Knight has worked both MLW and ROH/AEW tapings, which are not out of the ordinary for him, having worked both last year. He did, however return to GCW/JCW for the first time since 2023.
Fightful has confirmed with AEW sources that Knight spoke with Tony Khan and Rocky Romero during his ROH appearance, and that he's been discussing the potential of a new deal with NJPW. In addition, he'd expressed interest in weighing his potential WWE options with WWE to make a better decision on his future. We've not learned if WWE and Knight have had talks.
Speaking of....
There are a number of NJPW talent without contracts.
As is tradition, a number of NJPW contracts were set to expire in January. As of early February, there were still a number of wrestlers who did not have new contracts but continued working with the company.
We can’t speak to who has nailed down their deals as of yet, but Gabe Kidd, David Finlay, Kevin Knight, Zack Sabre Jr among others were all expiring, and new deals were seemingly on the way. David Finlay has been announced for upcoming shows.
Fightful followed up and were told that things progressed slowly in January towards new deals, but there was contact between the wrestlers and NJPW.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select and was republished here on Fightful for SEO reasons. If you complain about it being "old news," you have to fight everyone that is mean to SRS. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.
To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You'll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski's Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp's Q&A, Retro Reviews and more
