Karl Anderson's Status For NJPW Battle Autumn Confirmed

After a lot of speculation since his return to WWE, Karl Anderson's status for the upcoming NJPW Battle Autumn show has been confirmed by his former company. NJPW has today revealed that Anderson will not be part of the show, despite the fact he was originally advertised to be defending his NEVER Openweight Championship against Hikuleo, with the company apologizing to its fans. 

Anderson recently returned to WWE alongside Luke Gallows and has been a key part of the product since that point with AJ Styles as the three former Bullet Club stars have been feuding against The Judgment Day, and that has led to him being double booked on November 5, when Battle Autumn is taking place. That is because he is going to be in Saudi Arabia at WWE's Crown Jewel where The O.C. are set to face The Judgment Day in six-man tag team action. 

Even though Anderson has been with WWE for several weeks, it had originally been reported that he was going to fulfill his committed dates with his former promotion, but that doesn't appear to be the case anymore. As part of New Japan's announcement it was stated, "NJPW holds its champions to the highest standard of professionalism. We deeply apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by this matter."

Anderson had previously released an in-character video on social media that stated NJPW hadn't gone through his booking agent, which he claimed to be his tag team partner, Gallows. At that time he did state the match wasn't going to happen. 

Instead of facing Anderson, Hikuleo will now compete against Yujiro Takahashi in a non-title singles match. However, when it comes to the future of the NEVER Openweight Championship, it remains to be seen whether Anderson will head to Japan at another date to defend the title, or if it will simply be vacated.