Karl Anderson says he's not going to vacate the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Anderson is scheduled to defend the title against Hikuleo at the NJPW Battle Autumn event on November 5. Since Anderson and Doc Gallows returned to WWE on the October 10 episode of WWE Raw, the champion's status of the show has been unclear. Anderson posted a video in which he stated that he won't be coming to Battle Autumn because he and Gallows are also booked for WWE Crown Jewel on November 5. NJPW president Takami Ohbari subsequently stated that the company expects all talent to honor their commitments.
On October 25, NJPW released a statement in which it announced that Anderson will be forced to vacate the title if he doesn't compete as scheduled. The next day, Hikuleo tweeted about how a vacancy won't be needed, as he's willing to wait for the match. Anderson responded and stated that he won't be vacating anything. He claimed that he will face Hikuleo on his time.
I’m not vacating anything.
— Karl “The Machine Gun” Anderson (@MachineGunKA) October 26, 2022
I’m the greatest #NeverOpenweightChampion of all time.
I’ll defend it on my time ….. get with my booking agent @The_BigLG
I’ll see ya then @Hiku_Leo --
That’s #TooSweet https://t.co/EyN24ib9TD
Anderson's official status for the Battle Autumn event on November 5 remains unclear. Fightful will continue to provide more information as it becomes available.
FTR recently announced that they will compete at the event. More information is available here.
Catch up on past NJPW results using Fightful's results section.
