When the Good Brothers, “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson and Doc-now-Luke Gallows showed up on RAW as backup for A.J. Styles versus fellow former Bullet Club leader Finn Balor, it not only sent shockwaves through the WWE Universe but the professional wrestling world as a whole.

Though their in-ring time in Impact Wrestling had come to an end, as their contracts expired at the end of the summer and few expected them to re-sign with the promotion, they reportedly had a handshake deal with NJPW to finish out the year both in the proper Japanese promotion, in addition to Stateside shows for NJPW Strong. With Wrestle Kingdom 17 slated for January 4th, 2023, it looked like fans of the “King of Sports” would get a few more months of “Chad 2 Badd” and “Sex Furgeson” before they made their next move.

By showing up on RAW, the idea of a Good Brothers free agent tour went out the window, but there was the little matter of the Never Openweight Championship, NJPW's appropriately named belt that can be won by anyone regardless of size, experience, or pedigree, that presumably needed to be addressed before the duo could leave, right? Initially won while the “Big LG” was on the shelf, Anderson was scheduled to defend the strap – his third defense since winning it at NJPW Dominion at the Osaka-Jo Hall  – against former Bullet Club member Hikuleo at Battle Autumn on November 5th but was ultimately double booked for a match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia with Styles that unfortunately can't be moved.

So what gives? Is “Machine Gun” going to pull a Tessa Blanchard and refused to drop, let alone return the strap to its rightful owner? Or will WWE not only allow Anderson to work one more match outside of the promotion, but actually bring out the championship belt on weekly television in a rare example of real-world WWE synergy? Is this the logical extension of the dream Mickie James kicked into action when she appeared in the Women's Royal Rumble with the Impact belt at the beginning of the year, or just an example of WWE snatching up talent and giving it to opposing promotions?

Fortunately, or not depending on your preference, Anderson and Gallows took to Twitter in order to clean up the confusion. Unfortunately, “Bright Lights” and LG are still the same people, so needless to say, it got weird real quick.

Karl Anderson may still defend his NJPW title despite working for WWE.

Kicking off the video in an, um, interesting fashion, Gallows decided to open things up by complementing the promotion for everything they have done to them in their career, going so far as to say they will remain repping Bullet Club even in the biggest wrestling company in the world.

“New Japan Pro Wrestling, few questions,” Gallows began. “Are we the OG Bullet Club? Yes. Are we the world-famous Good Brothers? Yes. Are we repping OC on WWE Monday Night RAW? Yes. And do all bookings still go through the Big LG when it comes to ‘Bright Lights,' when it comes to the Good Brothers? Yes, they do. You guys announced ‘Bright Lights', ‘The Machine Gun' Karl Anderson for a match on November 5. Guess what? We're a little double-booked because you didn't run it through me. So, he ain't coming. We're not coming unless it's on our time.”

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Karl Anderson with a text bubble reading "Returning to NXT?" next to Luke Gallows with the NXT logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Karl Anderson with a text bubble reading "So here's how it happened" next to Tama Tonga with the New Japan Pro Wrestling and the WWE logos in the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Tama Tonga with Luke Gallows on his left and Karl Anderson on his right with the NXT logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

“New Japan Pro Wrestling, listen, I love what you've done for the Good Brothers through these years,” Anderson added. “But let me tell you something, I am the greatest NEVER Openweight Champion of all time. I only work when the lights are bright and November 5, we ain't coming. We'll come on our time. The Machine Gun will tell you when I'm coming to defend my championship.”

Hmm… interesting. “We'll come on our time” isn't quite the same as ‘I'm dropping the belt' and certainly eludes to the potential for another match down the line in NJPW to drop the strap gracefully before they leave for the foreseeable future.

Then again, this promo clearly wasn't scripted and maybe, just maybe, the duo misspoke about their status moving forward. Even if Paul “Triple H” Levesque allowed Karrion Kross and other recently-resigned performers to keep some indie bookings, they weren't allowed to wrestle out of fear of injury. Even with a wealth of in-ring experience, all it takes is one injury for KA to be MIA for months, maybe even longer. Fortunately, fans will eventually find out.