Michael Elgin was arrested in Japan for stealing.
Cassidy Haynes from Bodyslam.net has reported that Elgin was scheduled to wrestle on the July 10th Pro Wrestling NOAH event in Shizuoka and he was pulled from the card due to the fact that he was arrested last weekend for stealing protein powder.
According to the report, Elgin is currently still in jail and he could face up to 5 years in jail.
However, Elgin has now responded to claims that he was arrested, saying they are false and he is leaving the country for an entirely unrelated reason. He even included a picture of what appears to be him, sitting in first class on an airplane and enjoying a nice meal.
“I’m not going to bother saying what happened, but I am going to say. I was not charged for stealing protein,” Elgin writes. “I’m not charged at all, I am not facing jail time. I’m also not deported. I am going to Canada to be with my family after the passing of an extremely close family member.”
“I completely understand people don’t ever want to believe anything other than what they wish were true. I’m not going to debate with people,” he added. “But, I am on my scheduled flight home. Also, first class. Doesn’t seem like deportation.”
If reports of his arrest are indeed true, it is likely the reason that Elgin vacated the GHC Tag Team Champions alongside his partner, Masa Kitamiya on July 12. The new champions, Timothy Thatcher and Hideki Suzuki, won the titles by defeating Kitamiya and Yoshiki Inamura at the Budokan Hall event on July 16th.
Elgin was fired by Impact Wrestling on June 26th, 2020, due to controversies surrounding the “#SpeakingOut” movement on social media. He would later file a lawsuit against Impact on February 8th, 2022, in the Circuit Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, arguing that he deserved “not less than” five million dollars in compensatory damages for a breach of his contract, citing canceled ring performances, training sessions, social media opportunities, merchandise, and royalty payments from the company.
