10 Bold AEW Predictions For 2024
6. Kazuchika Okada Is All Elite
On Friday 19th January, 2024, the news was officially broken that Kazuchika Okada will be officially leaving NJPW when his contract expires. As of January 31st, 2024, Okada will be a free agent and able to wrestle wherever he desires.
As with any major free agent, there have been rumours of a possible WWE appearance. Taking the fact that his finishing move was used by Gunther in a December episode of Raw as well as Okada's reported trademarking of his own nickname, fans would be forgiven for hoping to see the Japanese star show up on WWE TV. However, it seems more likely that Okada will find his way to AEW before the year is up.
The ‘Rainmaker’ has already appeared on AEW programming, with his showdown against Bryan Danielson at Forbidden Door in June 2023 being a match of the year contender. Also, an opportunity to continue living in Japan while working AEW shows may be more appealing to him.
As a working relationship already exists between NJPW and AEW, it seems logical to expect Okada to put pen to paper with AEW and be treated as the special attraction that he is.