"Things have really come full circle" - Tony Khan comments on AEW and WCW working with NJPW
Tony Khan recently spoke about AEW's working relationship with NJPW. He believes that things have come full circle since the time WCW were also in a working relationship with NJPW.
It was announced on a recent episode of Dynamite that there will be a supershow between AEW and NJPW. The pay-per-view will be called Forbidden Door and will air on June 26th at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. It was a momentous occasion for both companies as NJPW President Takami Ohbari was also present alongside Tony Khan to make the announcement.
Regarding the Forbidden Door PPV:
There is no wrestler I want to call out… Wrestlers in NJPW will all gather & shout, ‘I want to wrestle Ricky Starks!’ and ‘I want to fight Team Taz!’ It won’t take long before it does.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan drew parallels between his company working with the Japanese promotion and WCW working with New Japan in the 90s.
“This is a lot of fun,” Tony said. “Not only am I a fan of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and I’m very excited about this partnership for business reasons, but also, historically, I think it is very fitting that New Japan Pro-Wrestling is working with a company that is on TNT and TBS again. You know, they had a great relationship with WCW for many years, and it was a very fruitful partnership."
He also talked about how things have come full circle with stars from NJPW featuring on TNT and TBS after so many years.
“We saw some of the great stars of New Japan in WCW, and again, a lot of the great WCW stars went over and competed in New Japan. So I think it’s a similar relationship that we have now, where both companies are doing great, and it makes sense for the stars of New Japan to come and feature and be seen on TBS and TNT again. So things have really come full circle, I think.” [H/T WrestlingInc]
Tony Khan also added during the interview that he has had a great experience with Takami Ohbari and that he was honored to have the NJPW President in AEW.
NJPW's IWGP United States Championship has been defended in AEW multiple times
Jon Moxley won the IWGP United States Championship in January 2020 when he defeated Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 inside the Tokyo Dome. He proceeded to defend it thrice on AEW programming.
This match is going to be sick. Lance archer should win tbh. Nothing against Jon Moxley at all, he’s fantastic. Lance needs something https://t.co/9G46b2bM8m
The first defense came against Japanese legend Yuji Nagata. Next, he took on Karl Anderson of the Good Brothers and emerged victorious once again.
At Fyter Fest 2021, he faced his old nemesis Lance Archer once again in the same match type as in 2020. This time, however, the Murderhawk Monster came out on top to win the title.
With a full card for the Forbidden Door pay-per-view yet to be announced, it remains to be seen which titles from both promotions are defended at the pay-per-view.
What do you make of Tony Khan's comments on the AEW-NJPW relationship? Let us know in the comments section below.