AEW President Tony Khan had no objection to dream match involving WWE Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura, says legendary manager
Legendary wrestling manager Sonny Onoo has peeled back the curtain on whether AEW and its president Tony Khan had a problem with Shinsuke Nakamura working with Japanese promotion NOAH. Onoo served as a facilitator in getting the deal done with WWE.
It was recently announced that Nakamura will face the legendary Great Muta on New Year's Day 2023 at the NOAH event, The New Year, as part of Muta's retirement tour.
This announcement shocked many as it was recently announced that AEW and NOAH had entered the early stages of a working relationship, causing many to wonder what this could mean for the relationship of all three companies.
NOAH had Shinsuke Nakamura listed as someone they wanted to bring in immediately after Keiji Muto made the decision to go on this retirement tour.
Initially, terms could not be reached but NOAH was persistent with WWE after Vince McMahon resigned.
- Tokyo Sports https://t.co/YwKRCR8gGl
Talking to Wrestling Inc., Sonny Onoo revealed that he had to make sure All Elite Wrestling was fine with the decision to book Shinsuke Nakamura for the event as NOAH didn't want to disrupt their relationship with Tony Khan so early.
"NOAH wanted to protect the newly developing relationship with AEW, I made sure there were no objections from various promotions," said Onoo. [H/T Wrestling Inc]
The announcement of Muta's match with Nakamura came just a few weeks after the Japanese legend made a surprise appearance at the Grand Slam edition of Rampage to help out Sting and Darby Allin in their match against the House of Black.
The relationship between All Elite Wrestling and NOAH will also lead to Sting being involved in The Great Muta's official retirement match, which is set to take place at the end of January 2023.
AEW has multiple working relationships with companies in Japan
Given that AEW EVP's Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks made their names prominently in Japan, it's no surprise that All Elite Wrestling has made every effort to build bridges with companies in that country, with Pro Wrestling NOAH being the latest one.
All Elite Wrestling, of course, has a strong relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, which led to the hugely successful Forbidden Door pay-per-view in June 2022, as well as stars like Jon Moxley, Lance Archer, and FTR holding NJPW titles on AEW TV.
AEW X NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR STAGE SET UP!!!!!! https://t.co/OEBbKnK5Ga
Other Japanese promotions include DDT and Tokyo-Joshi Pro Wrestling, which are both owned by the same company as Pro Wrestling NOAH. In recent months, these promotions have given American fans access to extremely popular stars such as Konosuke Takeshita and Yuka Sakazaki.
Which other companies would you like All Elite Wrestling to work with? Let us know in the comments section down below!