Kazuchika Okada Signs With AEW - Joins The Elite!

Kazuchika Okada is #AllElite

by Andrew Pollard
Kazuchika Okada
AEW

After plentiful speculation about his future, Kazuchika Okada has not only officially joined AEW, but the Rainmaker has also joined the Elite.

Having announced his intentions to leave New Japan Pro-Wrestling earlier this year, Okada appeared on last night's AEW Dynamite, seemingly to assist Eddie Kingston.

After the Young Bucks cut a promo suspending Adam Page from the Elite and firing Kenny Omega from the group, it would eventually be the Mad King who'd head to the ring to confront Matthew and Nicholas Jackson. This would quickly turn into a two-on-one beatdown from the Bucks on Kingston, and Okada's music put a temporary halt to that.

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Positioning himself as back-up to Eddie, Okada would instead hit his patented Rainmaker on the Continental Champion. If that wasn't shocking enough, Nicholas Jackson then announced that Kazuchika Okada is the newest member of the Elite.

As for Adam Page and Kenny Omega, Hangman was expected to take some time off after AEW Revolution, while Omega is currently waiting to see if he'll need surgery to deal with the diverticulitis he's been suffering with.

 
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.