There was a point when E.L.P. had offers on the table from NJPW and AEW.
Coming up on January 4th is NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 from the Tokyo Dome. Amongst the matches that are currently scheduled to take place is El Phantasmo and Hikuleo putting their STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships on the line against IWGP Tag Team Champions Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) in a double title bout.
Going into the match, Phantasmo and Hikuleo made the media rounds and one of the outlets they chatted with was the Speaking of Strong Style podcast. Phantasmo looked back at his start with NJPW and initially being offered a three-month deal in 2019 for Best of the Super Juniors and Super Junior Tag League. Around that time, AEW offered him a contract.
E.L.P. shared that he had been talking to former AEW EVP Cody Rhodes on WhatsApp because he did not have iMessage. Rhodes forgot to get onto the app and respond to ELP. Rocky Romero ended up securing a Japanese visa for Phantasmo and he was presented with the opportunity to be in BULLET CLUB. Phantasmo remembers Tony Khan asking Cody what happened with their conversations and Rhodes admitted that he forgot to get on WhatsApp. E.L.P. added that at the end of the day, NJPW asked first and that was what his decision was based on.
It’s also funny that — they (NJPW) originally only offered me like a three-month deal to do the Best of Super Juniors and maybe Super Junior Tag League. But that was also right as AEW was starting and I wrestled Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan was there and they offered me a deal to go to AEW. But that was before anybody kind of knew what it was and then I was f*cking — went from one day being an unknown indie wrestler in the U.K. to have multiple contracts, offers and you know, at the end of the day, New Japan asked first and that’s what my decision came down to was they asked first, they wanted me first. It was funny. I was texting Cody Rhodes on WhatsApp and then he didn’t respond and then I was like, ‘Cody, I kind of need to talk to you and he didn’t respond’ and then Rocky (Romero) got the Japanese visa and they’re like, ‘Hey, we want you in BULLET CLUB.’ I was like, ‘Sh*t, I can’t say no to that…’ He’s like, ‘I’ve only ever used WhatsApp for one person’ because I don’t have iMessage or anything. That was the funny story that Tony Khan was like, ‘Hey! What’s going on there?’ I was like, ‘Well he didn’t respond to me on WhatsApp’ and then he called f*cking Cody backstage in front of everybody. He’s like, ‘What’s going on with E.L.P.?’ And I was like, ‘Dude, you didn’t respond on WhatsApp.’ He’s like, Oh sh*t! You’re the only person I talk to on WhatsApp’ so he forgot to check it. It was kind of (a) funny story.
On the New Japan front, the company has a new President and Representative Director in the form of eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. To read more, click here.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Speaking of Strong Style with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
