Karl Anderson recently spoke with Sports Illustrated in an interview covering all things pro wrestling. Here are the highlights:
The possibility of returning to WWE:
“Just like you said, never say never. We’ve got verbally agreed upon dates with New Japan Pro-Wrestling for an extended period of time. But there’s such a built-in story with Bullet Club, and we never got to finish the story [in WWE] with AJ Styles or even Finn. There’s been a lot of things that have happened in the business, so you can never say never. Any time we can work with brothers like AJ and Finn, we’re always going to listen to that.”
His NEVER Openweight Title win over Tama Tanga at NJPW Dominion:
“That match with Tama, it meant a lot. We’ve been on the road together for so long. You hear this a lot, but it’s not cliché—people become like family in this business. We’ve spent so much time together on the road. Tama isn’t a friend to me; he’s more of a brother. When Gallows and I decided to come back to Japan, we made it a point to do some different s**t. We wanted to do something people didn’t expect. And the decision was made for me to attack Tama in Fukuoka and go into a program with him. And it’s really cool to see how good Tama’s become. He was basically starting in the business in 2009, 2010, and he’d only had a handful of matches when he came into New Japan as a young boy. I watched him go from a guy with a great look and potential to someone who has come into his own. He’s really f**king good now. Anytime you can get into a big match with a brother of yours, there’s nothing f**king cooler.”
