According to a report from Sports Illustrated, it has now been confirmed that WWE reached out to NJPW last year.
Some of you may recall that reports surfaced back in May of 2021 that WWE had been in talks with several top executives from New Japan Pro Wrestling. The idea was for WWE to become NJPW’s exclusive business partner in the United States. Those talks never went anywhere as the two sides were unable to reach an agreement.
Fast forward to now and All Elite Wrestling will be holding a joint pay-per-view with NJPW, which is titled AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door and takes place on June 26th in Chicago, IL.
The Sports Illustrated report notes that WWE President and CRO Nick Khan made overtures to New Japan last year. At the time, Bryan Danielson was a focal point of WWE’s interest as the company didn’t want him to leave and would have allowed him to work several New Japan Pro Wrestling events.
Additionally, when AEW President Tony Khan found out about WWE’s interest in working with NJPW, he was assured that their priority was working with AEW.
Prior to an episode of AEW Dynamite when the news first broke, Tony Khan cut a promo in front of the live crowd where he said the following,
“As we get ready to go live tonight on Dynamite on TNT, I just wanted to address as the Forbidden Door — I read in the Observer today that New Japan Pro Wrestling has apparently had talks with WWE’s President Nick Khan. Well Nick, I just have to say if you’ve been talking to New Japan for two months, you’ve gotten a lot done. Just in the last two weeks I’ve had Yuji Nagata, Ren Narita, and Rocky Romero on AEW. I’ve reunited Roppongi Vice. I’ve had the New Japan IWGP US Champion Jon Moxley defend the title successfully on our show, retaining it. And I have future plans with New Japan for the US Title. So you must’ve really gotten a lot done in two the months, Nick.”
NJPW officials knew about Tony’s promo before it was released. They actually encouraged him to go forward with it.
And finally, NJPW president Takami Ohbari said the following,
“Traveling between Japan and the U.S. is no longer a significant problem. If Japanese fans are invested in this event and the demand is there, then there will absolutely be the impetus for us to take the next step of holding an event in Japan.”
