NJPW gives up on Karl Anderson defending title on November 5

New Japan Pro-Wrestling have given up on Karl Anderson appearing on the November 5 event to defend his NEVER Openweight champion and has taken his match off the card officially.

“We apologise to fans who had been looking forward to watching Anderson wrestle,” the statement read. “NJPW holds its champions to the highest standard of professionalism. We deeply apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by this matter.”

Anderson will be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia instead of Osaka, Japan, and will be teaming up with Luke Gallows and AJ Styles to take on Judgment Day in a six-man tag team match.

NJPW said that Anderson has still not replied to any of their messages for the Battle Autumn event. Last week they ordered him to either defend the title or vacate it, a request which was met in the negative by Anderson who said he will not vacate anything and will defend the title whenever he wants.