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WWE Rumors: Kazuchika Okada Seen At ‘WWE Monday Night RAW’ Taping, But Is He Joining WWE Or Not?

By Lorenzo Tanos
Published on: 04:23 PST, Jul 4, 2017

Recent WWE rumors have a lot of fans asking whether Kazuchika Okada is joining WWE? Although it’s been well-documented that the “Rainmaker” doesn’t have any ostensible plans of ever working for North America’s largest wrestling promotion, reports of Okada being sighted leaving the arena where Monday Night RAW took place this week have the rumors firing up again. As such, many fans may be wondering whether one of Japan’s top homegrown wrestlers may soon be joining countrymen Shinsuke Nakamura and Hideo Itami in the WWE.

The past weekend was a busy one for the 29-year-old Okada, who had been in Long Beach, California, for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Special. As Wrestling Inc. noted, this NJPW event had Kazuchika Okada against ex-WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes in a match for the former’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The match was won by Okada, who hit his Rainmaker finisher on Cody and walked out of the arena still holding his championship belt.

Although Okada was due to return to Japan after the G1 Special, Pro Wrestling Sheet wrote about a rather curious sighting for a lot of fans who had attended Monday Night RAW at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix last night.

It may not be an actual confirmation that Kazuchika Okada is in talks with WWE, but for what it’s worth, Pro Wrestling Sheet said that some fan videos have emerged showing Okada leaving the Talking Stick Resort Arena after RAW had gone off the air and wrapped up for the night.

As seen in some of the tweets below, there are members of the WWE Universe who believe this could hint at Okada finally softening his stance on not joining WWE. But a separate report from WhatCulture suggests that he may have likely been visiting friends, such as former NJPW colleagues and current Monday Night RAW talents Finn Balor, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson.

According to WhatCulture, last night’s RAW sighting isn’t that unusual for Kazuchika Okada. He was at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view last year, attending as SmackDown Live wrestler (and ex-NJPW stalwart) Shinsuke Nakamura’s guest. The day prior, he had also been at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, showing support for WWE’s developmental brand.

The biggest potential rumor-killer, however, may be WhatCulture’s note that Okada is currently signed to a long-term deal with NJPW, making it impossible for him to legally discuss a contract with WWE at this point in time. He did say in September of 2015 that he wants to focus on making NJPW bigger worldwide and that he doesn’t plan to ever sign with WWE, as he isn’t interested in the company “at all,” according to a previous report from Pro Wrestling Sheet.

Given those frequent WWE rumors of the company continuing to add to its deep roster of talent, would you like to see Kazuchika Okada join WWE at some time in the future, or do you think he’s better off staying at home in NJPW?

[Featured Image by Courtney Rose/Wikimedia Commons/Cropped and Resized/CC BY-SA 2.0]

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