“Switchblade” Jay White is one of the pillars of New Japan Pro Wrestling. He's a five-time world champion with the promotion, with his most recent title reign, with the IWGP World Championship, coming to an end at Wrestle Kingdom 17, the leader of Bullet Club, and the self-proclaimed “Catalyst of Professional Wrestling” for having his hand in, well, basically everything that happens in professional wrestling from WWE to AEW in a sort of “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” sort of way.

He's worked in AEW, formed a Bullet Club chapter in Impact wrestling with Chris Bey and Ace Austin, and even worked matches on NJPW Strong, where he had a fun little feud with Eddie Kingston, but could all of this action around the indie wrestling world soon be coming to an end for “King Switch?” Well, if the reporting of Fightful and Dave Meltzer proves correct, that is definitely a possibility, as none other than WWE have interest in bringing White to WWE, as you can read below via TJR Wrestling.

“Fightful reported that Jay White’s contract is coming due and that both AEW and WWE are interested in him. White currently lives in Orlando. He has a loser leaves town match with Hikuleo set for the 2/11 show in Osaka.”

“In 2018, when AEW was being formed, White was asked his contract status since he was a guy that there was interest in, since he was very good and people in AEW worked with him in New Japan and ROH. At the time, White said he was under contract for seven more years. Obviously, that time frame doesn’t add up if he’s available now.”

“The story reported that WWE was the favorite to get him but it wasn’t a done deal, and technically neither side are as of yet unable to legally approach him.”

Could White take the money and become the third Bullet Club leader to jump ship from NJPW to WWE, following in the footsteps of Prince Devitt (aka Finn Balor) and A.J. Styles? Potentially so, but he probably shouldn't, as WWE's isolationist attitude to professional wrestling, even in the admittedly more open landscape of Paul “Triple H” Levesque's book, would fly directly in the face of what makes White's current character special.

WWE would waste what makes Jay White special.

What makes Jay White special? Is it his “Blade Runner” finisher? His mic skills? His unique ability to give reporters fits whenever he's forced to talk to one? Or maybe it's his management skills within the Bullet Club? In this writer's humble opinion, the one aspect of White's portfolio that stands above the rest is actually his legacy, and willingness to gloat about it to hype himself up.

At just 30 years old, White has accomplished a lot in his professional wrestling career; he joined Chaos as the heir to Kazuchika Okada, he “retired” Kenny Omega as the leader of Bullet Club, he sold out Madison Square Garden – by his own admission – and again sold out the United Center in the co-main event of Forbidden Door in a match he won with a victory roll on his “good friend” Adam Cole. He has friends in WWE like The Good Brothers, who will eventually return as A.J. Styles' muscle when he returns from a house show injury, friends in AEW like Omega, the Young Bucks, and Cole – assuming he forgives “King Switch” for the ending of their match at Forbidden Door – and could easily run the show on Impact as their top star since “The Belt Collector” era in 2021.

Could White arrive in WWE and tout his pedigree, in a sort of vague sense? Sure, while WWE may consider giving White a new character a la Balor, he's a big enough star that regular fans of the promotion would at least be familiar with his name from discourse alone. But would White be able to come in a “Switchblade,” the former – or even current – leader of Bullet Club with five New Japan championship reigns under his belt and enough main event pedigree to immediately enter the main event picture for the top title? In AEW, the answer to that question is a definitive yes, but in WWE, that probably isn't the case – even if White is able to bypass NXT to immediately work on the main roster, it's hard to imagine he'll be challenging Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, or even GUNTHER for the top strap any time soon.

Could Triple H prove the doubters wrong and make “King Switch” a certified main eventer? Sure, WWE has brought in external talents and immediately made booked them like stars before, and they will certainly do it again, but with Vince McMahon attempting to steal back control of creative, it's hard to imagine White finding more success in The Fed than AEW or even back in NJPW.