Former NJPW Prodigy Signs With WWE NXT

The former Young Lion will now roar for Triple H (or Vince McMahon, who knows at this point).

by Michael Sidgwick
Karl Fredericks
NJPW

Per PWInsider - a reputable source that tends not to get this sort of thing wrong - WWE has signed former New Japan Pro Wrestling rising star Karl Fredericks.

Should he fulfil his promise - and should he be booked well - this will represent a major coup. At just 32, Karl's physical prime is ahead of him. He is mechanically very good indeed, owing to his training in the legendary proving grounds of the NJPW dojo system undertaken by Katsuyori Shibata. And, as you can tell from the picture above, he is a telegenic and marketable physical presence.

NJPW thought very highly of him at one point - he won the Young Lion Cup in 2019 - and this was consistent with his perception within the industry. He was going to be a star.

Advertisement

As a result of the pandemic, this didn't happen, or at least hasn't happened yet. The traditional mechanisms with which a Dojo graduate succeeds were no longer in place. Karl couldn't go on an extensive excursion, and nor could he travel easily between the two arms of the company. Up until the midway point of last year, during which the rumours of this news began to intensify, he was mostly confined to NJPW Strong: a worthy, solid show that nonetheless didn't feature much in the bloated schedule of the average wrestling super-fan.

This news was expected; Karl said his goodbyes to NJPW on Twitter months ago and was spotted in the Performance Center back in September 2022.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!