NJPW Star Reportedly Heading To WWE To Impact Bloodline Storyline

While Roman Reigns has been off licking his wounds since losing the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40, Solo Sikoa has begun to revamp the Bloodline in his own image. This has included bringing in two former New Japan stars in Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, the former appearing shortly after WrestleMania and the latter debuting at WWE Backlash to help Tonga and Sikoa defeat Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. 

Now, Tonga and Loa's other sibling may also be crashing the party. Bodyslam reports that long-time New Japan star Hikuleo wrapped up his run with the promotion this past weekend at Dominion. While not 100% confirmed, those close to the 33 year old believe he is on his way to WWE, and it's expected he will join his brothers in the Bloodline stable. Later on Monday, Fightful Select reported that both WWE and New Japan expected him to wind up working for WWE, though it hadn't been confirmed yet that he had signed a contract, nor that he had officially finished up with New Japan. If not, it is expected imminently, as Hikuleo's deal is believed to expire some time this month.

WWE and Hikuleo are no strangers to each other, with the promotion having been reported to have interest in the second generation star over the years, most recently in 2023. Hikuleo would later confirm that WWE had approached both him and Tonga that year about signing, though no deal would come about, with a reportedly WWE "hiring freeze" being blamed at the time. This develop would lead to both Hikuleo and Tonga reupping with New Japan for the next year.

Initially trained by Bully Ray and D-Von Dudley, Hikuleo received additional training from the New Japan Dojo in 2016 debuting in 2016. He would remain associated with his brothers throughout his tenure, first as a member of Bullet Club and later the Guerillas of Destiny stable, after he, Tonga, and Loa were kicked out of the group. They would later be joined by former Bullet Club members El Phantasmo and Jado, who served as the group's manager.

Though he experienced some success as a singles wrestler, including winning the New Japan Strong Openweight Championship once, Hikuleo's greatest success in New Japan came as a tag team with El Phantasmo. The duo would win the New Japan Strong Tag Team Championships twice and the IWGP Tag Team Championships once after they began teaming in late 2023; their last match as a team was at Dominion, where they dropped the Strong Tag Team Titles to TMDK in a four way match with both the Strong and IWGP Tag Team Titles on the line.

Hikuleo is the latest WWE signing the promotion has made with eyes towards expanding the Bloodline, joining former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu. It remains unclear at this time when either Hikuleo or Fatu, who has reportedly been signed to WWE for quite some time, will be making their onscreen debuts.