It’s the end of the road for Karl Anderson as the self-proclaimed greatest NEVER Openweight champion lost his title to Tama Tonga earlier this morning at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Anderson won the NEVER Openweight title from Tama Tonga at the Dominion 6.12 event in Osaka, more than a month before he returned to WWE with Luke Gallows and had the title for a total of 206 days.
Anderson was originally scheduled to defend his title against Hikuleo on November 5 in Japan but Anderson was booked to go to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel. The initial disagreement was eventually changed to a storyline and Anderson defended the title last month against Hikuleo in Miyagi, Japan and three days later returned to WWE.
Anderson’s participation at Wrestle Kingdom made it a rare event where WWE and AEW stars were on the same card for a different promotion.
