{"id":7742,"date":"2016-02-25T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=7742"},"modified":"2016-02-26T02:46:14","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:46:14","slug":"michael-elgin-will-2016-be-his-year-in-new-japan-or-wwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/25\/michael-elgin-will-2016-be-his-year-in-new-japan-or-wwe\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Elgin update &#8211; Elgin comments on signing with New Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-412776488\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>February 20 Report<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PWTorch has confirmed that Michael Elgin has signed a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling.<\/p>\n<p>Elgin was in Japan this weekend for the ROH vs. New Japan series, where a deal was signed after being negotiations earlier in the month.<\/p>\n<p>The deal is for two years, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/prowrestlingsheet.com\/michael-elgin-signs-new-contract-njpw-new-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pro Wrestling Sheet<\/a>, with Elgin still able to wrestle for top independents in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>As we reported in January, Elgin was looking to be a featured player in New Japan after having a break-out run in 2015 as part of the G1 Climax tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Elgin got the commitment he was looking for from New Japan, resulting in a contract agreement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2\/25 Update:\u00a0<\/strong>Michael Elgin commented to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.channelguidemag.com\/tv-news\/2016\/02\/24\/michael-elgin-on-signing-with-new-japan-and-ring-of-honors-14th-anniversary-show\/\" target=\"_blank\">Scott Fishman for Channel Guide Magazine on signing with NJPW<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The company is a good fit for me,&#8221; Elgin said. &#8220;Everyone is going to WWE right now. There are only so many spots to be filled and only so many programs. I really felt the two years with New Japan\u00a0would give me more notice from them. It was also a goal to be there. Let&#8217;s say I reached out to WWE and went there after only four tours of Japan. I think I would have missed something because Japan was a heavy goal.&#8221;<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1626809611\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>January 13 Report<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fall-out from New Japan stars A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows leaving for WWE is opening the door for a potential new\u00a0<em>gaijin<\/em> star to emerge.<\/p>\n<p>The prime candidates seem to be Kenny Omega and\u00a0Michael Elgin. Elgin had a career resurgence in 2015 when he wowed Japanese fans and had great matches during the G1 Climax tournament.\u00a0Elgin has since associated with top star Tanahashi on New Japan shows.<\/p>\n<p>To kick off 2016, Omega ascended to the top of the Bullet Club food chain as part of the fall-out from the &#8220;Wrestle Kingdom&#8221; Tokyo Dome Show on January 5. Elgin is right next to him ready for a break-out year\u00a0after his successful run in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>PWTorch has learned that WWE is interested in Elgin, though. WWE seems to be interested in just about anyone with name credibility on the independents right now, but because Elgin is currently a free agent, he is attractive to WWE.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE:\u00a0<\/strong>Michael Elgin spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/01\/13\/scott-hall-brock-lesnar-sting-wwe-new-japan#\" target=\"_blank\">Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated<\/a> about his desire to stay with New Japan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to be a year exclusive with New Japan,\u201d said Elgin. \u201cI want to hold gold in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Elgin were to continue on the New Japan path, there is a big opening at the top of the card following the departures of Styles, Anderson &amp; Gallows, and also Shinsuke Nakamura. The question is whether New Japan sees Elgin as worthy of a singles push on a regular basis at the level of A.J. Styles, not just an &#8220;ROH guy&#8221; traveling to Japan for a few tours per year.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2016069959\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>New Japan is looking to expand\u00a0their working relationship with Ring of Honor in 2016, so that\u00a0could potentially\u00a0raise Elgin&#8217;s profile to be thought of more highly by New Japan officials. It could also help his standing in Ring of Honor if he were to sign a new deal, especially\u00a0with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2015\/12\/23\/6501\/\" target=\"_blank\">lingering questions about the contract statuses\u00a0of top ROH stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3695232027\"><div id=\"pwtor-1815843079\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>February 20 Report PWTorch has confirmed that Michael Elgin has signed a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Elgin was in Japan this weekend for the ROH vs. New Japan series, where a deal was <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/25\/michael-elgin-will-2016-be-his-year-in-new-japan-or-wwe\/\" title=\"Michael Elgin update &#8211; Elgin comments on signing with New Japan\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[171,87,404,167,71],"class_list":["post-7742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news_japan","category-news_roh","tag-michael-elgin","tag-new-japan","tag-njpw","tag-roh","tag-wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NJPWdark_3x2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7742"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11936,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions\/11936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}