"They were pretty pissed off with me" - Tony Khan details AEW's relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling
Despite a rocky start, Tony Khan loves working with New Japan Pro Wrestling. But the latter promotion apparently did not like him at first!
During an AEW Full Gear media call on Thursday afternoon, Khan answered several questions. When asked about the promotion's current relationship with New Japan, Khan said it was great. But he had to earn his partners' trust.
"It's a great relationship. I really enjoy working with New Japan. It's changed a lot since AEW started because when AEW first started off, I think they were pretty pissed off with me. And then, as wrestling went on, I think they saw that like I wasn't really trying to stop them from doing anything. I actually made a lot of friendly gestures along the way, and so I think they saw there's a good relationship and I have a good reputation for being an honest person," Tony Khan started
Despite Khan having no knowledge of the inner workings of the pro wrestling business, he slowly built his reputation up. After an initial hesitation, NJPW authorities now speak to him regularly:
"So even though I kind of came out of left field, and I was a new player in the game, I think I raised their antenna early and made them pretty nervous. And then, the more I built a reputation in the sport, they wanted to work with me. Now I talk to them on a regular basis, and we put matches together, and wrestlers from AEW go there and as you said, and all the different people that have come through from New Japan to AEW, and there's probably more to come, but there's a lot of things we can do," Tony Khan said.
Tony Khan says the NJPW relationship has grown a lot, and New Japan has seen that AEW has made a lot of friendly gestures. He says the trust has grown between two sides and they talk to each other on a regular basis.
Tony Khan said New Japan thought his promo on Nick Khan was hilarious
Tony Khan also touched upon his now-infamous promo on Nick Khan and WWE about their attempts to form a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Apparently the latter found it hilarious.
"When the story that New Japan would work with WWE [came out], it was comical to me because I was doing all this stuff with New Japan. I had all these plans with New Japan and I knew Nagada was going to be coming to Dynamite, we were doing this stuff with KENTA and had other plans in the future. So I thought it would be a fun to cut a promo to get some buzz on the show. So I asked them if they wanted me to do this promo because I thought it would be good buzz for New Japan and AEW, and they thought it was hilarious," Tony Khan said.
Nick Khan tried to make a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this year that would see Bryan Danielson (fka Daniel Bryan) work for both companies. While the deal was never made, the latter can now go to NJPW as part of the AEW roster.
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Have you enjoyed the partnership between AEW and New Japan so far? Which New Japan wrestler would you like to see Tony Khan bring to AEW next? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the AEW Full Gear media call with a link back to this article for the transcription.