Karl Fredericks is a free agent after his contract with NJPW ended.
He announced that he will not be re-signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling after his contract expires today (August 1, 2022) in a tweet. He wrote the following:
“As of today August 1st I am no longer under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling and I will not be re-signing with the company at this time. Though there is disappointment in the ending of this chapter I am grateful for the last four years traveling the world and growing with my best friends. I want to say thank you to the company for the opportunities and especially thank you to Shibata-San for believing in me and bringing me along his journey with the LA Dojo. Last but not least thank you to my fans and thank you to the NJPW fans for Your support over these years. I hope You will continue to support me along my path wherever that may lead.”
Fredericks, who had previously worked for a number of independent promotions, including All Pro Wrestling, made his professional wrestling debut in 2015. He began training at the NJPW LA Dojo in 2018, along with Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin. He represented the LA Dojo in Japan for the 2019 Young Lion Tournament, where he won. Later that year, he formed a partnership with Hirooki Goto for the World Tag League.
Karl participated in the first New Japan Cup USA tournament in 2020 but was defeated by KENTA in the opening round. Fredericks attempted to challenge Tom Lawlor for the Strong Openweight Championship but was unsuccessful. On the May 15th episode of NJPW Strong, he defeated QT Marshall of AEW in his final NJPW bout.
