The working relationship between AEW and NJPW is underway officially following KENTA making an appearance on AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night.
The deal didn’t come along as quickly as some would have preferred, but it turns out that the key to the whole situation was when NJPW needed to use IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley to work a program with KENTA. Since Moxley couldn’t travel to Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NJPW taped the match last December in the United States and it will air later this month.
Dave Meltzer talked about the deal during the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.
“The deal is done and the two sides have a working relationship. The pandemic probably sped it up, but it also holds it back at the same time. The only way to get Moxley was to make a deal. When AEW first started, New Japan had no clue has successful they’d be, there are a lot of things about it.”
Meltzer continued, “there was really a lot of childish stuff, and even when I tell people they don’t wanna believe it…it was essentially, they wanted Tony Khan to come and see them and he didn’t, and even though they sent Chris Harrington and even though the Young Bucks were the office and they were ready to make the deal, New Japan thought that they were fly-by-nighters and it’s not going to mean anything, and they just kinda big leagued them.
They were wrong and they went their separate ways and then they needed Jon Moxley because he had the US Title. I mean they could have stripped him, they could if they wanted to, but they didn’t want to. The only way to get him, because he couldn’t go to Japan, was to do it here. The only way to do it here was to get approval from Tony Khan, so it opened the door and Harold [Meij] is gone. I know when I wrote that Herald was gone, it opened the door and it did open the door.”
Meltzer noted that if the pandemic didn’t happen and Moxley was able to go to NJPW then this may not have happened as soon as it did. It should be noted that the likelihood of AEW stars going to Japan to work dates isn’t great due to AEW’s taping schedule. NJPW stars could come to the US, but they would have to quarantine, which creates a challenge for them due to the hectic NJPW schedule. Thus, the two sides have an agreement, but until the pandemic is over, there will not be a lot of cross over between the two promotions.
