Three free agents have arrived in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Los Angeles, California was the home of the 2/17 NJPW Rivals taping. The matches from those tapings will begin to rollout on the weekly NJPW STRONG show on Saturdays. At the tapings, three talents who are officially free agents appeared.
Shane ‘Swerve’ Strickland answered the call of Jay White’s open challenge and the two went one-on-one. Following Strickland’s release from WWE, Rocky Romero publicly stated that he would love to have Strickland appear on STRONG.
Shane Haste, the former ‘Shane Throne’ made his first New Japan Pro-Wrestling appearance since 2015. Haste aligned himself with JONAH and Bad Dude Tito. Haste’s longtime tag team partner Mikey Nicholls is a part of the New Japan roster. When POST Wrestling interviewed Mikey in 2021, he touched on the possibility of reuniting with Shane in the future.
Also at the taping was Máscara Dorada, who is scheduled for ‘Strong Style Evolved’ in March. Dorada had been a part of WWE since 2016 under the name ‘Gran Metalik’.
MASCARA DORADA at NJPW Rivals. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/y1R43KdduT
— Denise 'Hollywood Elite' Salcedo (@_denisesalcedo) February 18, 2022
.@ShaneTMDK aligns himself with @JONAHISHERE & @BADDUDEtito. Is this TMDK? #NJPWRivals pic.twitter.com/VVO2jP3nOX
— Jim Velasco (@TheJimmyV) February 18, 2022
.@swerveconfident answers the US of Jay challenge from @JayWhiteNZ… then rejects his offer to join the Bullet Club. #NJPWRivals pic.twitter.com/yT6qKGfp9L
— Jim Velasco (@TheJimmyV) February 18, 2022
On today’s episode of AEW Rampage on TNT, Jay White is going to make his AEW in-ring debut when he takes on former New Japan Pro-Wrestling talent Trent.
