Jay White is famously known for his work in New Japan and has been wrestling for eight years. At the age of only 28, White has become one of the leading stars of professional wrestling and it doesn’t look like he’ll be stopping anytime soon. On January 5, 2021, White fought against Kota Ibushi in a forty-eight minute classic for the IWGP Heavyweight and the IWGP Intercontinental Championships. In the post-match press conference, White expressed his grievances in a rather emotional manner and then proceeded to announce that he wasn’t contractually obliged to work for New Japan after New Year’s Dash after which he’s done. The next night on New Year’s Dash, White took part in a tag team match and was the one who took the fall. Since then, there has been radio silence from his end. The question on everyone’s minds right now is: “What’s next?” There are different ways White can go from here and let’s take a look at those paths.
So the wildest and popular theory is that Jay White shows up at the Royal Rumble in WWE. Now, how much gravity does that theory hold? Not much. White has expressed in the past that he doesn’t wish to go to WWE and given his main-event position in New Japan, I don’t think WWE would be attractive enough for White. The main two things that WWE has to offer is mainstream exposure in North America and big bucks. White might not need either of that. There have been stars in the past that have gained mainstream attraction from wrestling fans without ever wrestling in WWE. The prime example of this would be Kenny Omega. Every wrestling fan talked or at least knew about him even though he had never set foot in Vince’s playground. As for money, well White is twenty-eight years old right now. He has a stable spot in New Japan so why would he go after money when he has his whole career ahead of him. I don’t think White would trade his safe spot in New Japan for an uncertain future in WWE right now. However, it cannot be said for sure that he isn’t heading to WWE. The aforementioned arguments were also made for Styles when he was leaving New Japan but he still showed up at Royal Rumble and look at him right now. He’s one of Vince’s boys. A bullet-proof main event star even though he was thirty-eight years old when he arrived there. Moreover, White added fuel to these theories when he liked Finn Balor’s post of him holding the NXT Title captioned “Step right up”. This could very well be just him playing with us but I wouldn’t put it past him to consider going over to Connecticut because after all, there are reports that WWE is showing interest in him.
The next one on the list of wild theories is that White will be going to AEW. This surely seems like a really attractive option but, again, there isn’t much evidence to support this theory. In 2019, when AEW was created, The Elite and Tony Khan approached White and asked him to join their roster but White declined, saying that he had a seven-year contract signed with New Japan. Could he have lied? He could have but there wasn’t any reason for him to do so. If he had to reject AEW’s offer he would have straight-up said so. However, there is one way through which Jay White can come to AEW and it is not as a full-time roster member but through a collaboration between New Japan and AEW. As we have seen in AEW the band is back together. Good Brothers, the Bucks and Omega have reformed the Bullet Club but unfortunately, they don’t have the rights to call it that. Those are reserved to NJPW only where the unsaid leader of the legitimate Bullet Club right now is the Switchblade. If New Japan and AEW were to join hands and unlock the forbidden door, one of the things that they could do is send White over to AEW to officially give Omega, Bucks and the Good Brothers the “Bullet Club” title. That might already be under process since Jay White’s emotional promo could have been a sign of him heading to the AEW where they just reformed the Bullet Club. The timing seems to be perfect on this one. A bit too perfect.
Lastly, let’s move on to the theory that I think is the most plausible out of all that have been circulating on the internet. Jay White is staying in New Japan but he’ll be taking some time off. NJPW is the perfect place for White right now. His wrestling is better than ever before and he seems to be improving by the day. Jay White’s character arc is incomplete right now and it needs to be completed in Japan. White has even been promoted in the upcoming posters of New Japan events that they plan on conducting over the next month. Now, where does the Switchblade go from here? One idea is to turn his face. He has been one of the top heels in wrestling for a while and is an absolute master at it too, however, it has restricted him in a way. In order to gain heat, White’s move-set consists of less flashy moves and more technical and heelish tactics. Despite that, he has been able to put on five-star matches. Now imagine what he could do if he was allowed to do moonsaults or suicide somersault sentons to the outside. He’s only twenty-eight and if he turns face and unlocks all the moves that he has been hiding in his back pocket people might start to realize how big of a deal he is. He can become the greatest wrestler of his generation if his career takes the right turns and the right time which is also in Gedo’s best interest. That is why he is most probably staying in NJPW.
These were some of the popular theories that have been going around on the internet. Wrestling is very unpredictable so anything could happen. Only time will tell what White’s future holds. Let us know what you think is next for Jay White by tweeting us out at @TWMWrestle. Thank you for reading.