Where The Hell Is Jay White?! (AEW News)
Appearance at New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 20 has AEW fans scratching their heads.
Jay White hasn't worked a match since beating Kevin Knight on the 29 March 2025 episode of Collision, but the AEW star did show up to honour Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 20 show on 4 January. That piqued the interest of fans wondering just where 'Switchblade' has been.
Fightful Select reports that NJPW chiefs lifted "the ban on him" (caused by White's 'Loser Leaves NJPW' loss to Eddie Kingston on 18 February 2023) so Jay could pay tribute to Tanahashi alongside others. However, the website has also reported that White isn't close to an All Elite return.
Fans of Tony Khan's league won't be seeing Jay anytime soon, put it that way.
He suffered a hand injury in early-2025, then went on to go under the knife for shoulder surgery afterwards. That ruled White out for the rest of last year, but there's been no word on a return in early-2026. At least not yet. Fightful did confirm that Jay isn't factored into AEW's creative plans in January, so it appears the New Japan cameo was exactly that: A non-wrestling cameo agreed exclusively so Jay could be in the house for Hiroshi's send off.
All Elite chiefs made a lot of noise about signing White back in 2023 after he'd made a few appearances the prior year. However, it'd be a lie to suggest that Jay turned out to be the game-changing get some believed he would be before he put pen to paper on a deal with Khan.
AEW fans want him back on TV ASAP, but it looks like they'll have to continue playing the waiting game.