Major Update On Jay White's NJPW Future, WWE Interest & More
The NEVER Openweight Champion on his NJPW future, WWE interest, AEW, and more!
Fightful have released some Jay White quotes from an upcoming interview with NJPW's reigning NEVER Openweight Champion, doing so via their Select platform.
White, whose wrestling future has been the subject of speculation for much of 2021, confirmed during the conversation that he was never approached by All Elite Wrestling, despite speculation to the contrary:-
"I was never or have never been approached in regards to AEW. Especially when they were starting up. I don’t know where that rumor came from. It’s just like everything else to do with wrestling in regards to wrestling, people just like to push s**t out there as if it’s true and everyone just eats it up. No, I was never approached in regards to AEW. I don’t know where that came from."
White continued, seemingly confirming WWE's reported interest in him earlier this year:-
"The only part of that where there was any truth is the very first part of it, talking about the start of this year and about (WWE). Anything after that, none of that is true. It’s completely false. People, I’m sure, they’re probably going to respond and say, ‘Oh, he’s just saying that because he’s not into telling the truth.’ But I’m doing you a favor and telling you the truth here—them approaching me and some contract I was on, both things 100% false.”
Talk that the market leaders were making a "strong play" for White emerged in January, with the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion given a "50/50" chance of swapping Japan for Stamford at the time. This came shortly after a loss to Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 15 - and a post-show promo that saw Jay state that perhaps his "time should be spent somewhere else" following the last show on his contract (6 January's New Year Dash).
These teases ultimately came to nothing with White returning to NJPW action on 2 February. He hasn't wrestled in Japan since May, however, and has spent his past few months in the United States, competing on NJPW STRONG primarily.
White's Fightful interview also saw him reject claims that he'd signed a seven-year NJPW contract in 2018. The length of his current deal remains unknown.