Longtime NJPW Star Says Goodbye To Company At New Beginning

Toma Tonga said goodbye to New Japan Pro-Wrestling on Saturday after losing the NEVER Openweight Championship to EVIL at NJPW New Beginning. According to Fightful, Tonga took a bow on the stage and bid farewell to the audience. The outlet reported he is still scheduled to compete during the NJPW Road to New Beginning Tour throughout the rest of January, and then he will exit the promotion. 

Tonga said after Wrestle Kingdom 18 that January would be his last month with NJPW. Tonga, who debuted in the promotion in 2010, won the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 18 when he defeated Shingo Takagi.

The former champion previously said that WWE was interested in signing him back in March of 2023  but that never materialized. He said in an interview he was open to the idea, but the deal was said to not have gone down last year due to an unofficial hiring freeze on in-ring talent within WWE. It was reported in May that Tonga was a free agent and was working without a contract in NJPW.

NJPW previously had a decades-long tradition of signing talent to year-long contracts and in early 2016, it was called into question when WWE signed the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson all at once. Since then, the promotion has offered its talent more long-term contracts. However, it remains to be seen where Tonga ends up next.