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NewsAEWCody Rhodes Comments on the "Forbidden Door" Between AEW and NJPW

Cody Rhodes Comments on the “Forbidden Door” Between AEW and NJPW

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During a new interview with The New York Post, AEW EVP Cody Rhodes commented on the “forbidden door” between AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Arn Anderson being his manager, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On having Arn Anderson as his onscreen manager: “He’s referred to as a head coach by AEW, but I really wanted to look at my performance and my level of competition, what that looks like with a manager. And I have a love for the proper use of a legend and somebody that has really been instrumental in the industry, and Arn is someone who has been instrumental in the industry. Some of the most popular current wrestlers on multiple brands have been under that learning tree. So now I can be under that learning tree, but it can also be on air. My relationship with Arn is very real. He was someone at WWE who was extremely, extremely hard on me, and I need that same thing now because wrestling fans expect a lot from AEW.”

On Arn only having an on-camera role with AEW right now: “Right now it’s just in front of the camera, but everything at AEW is very much a matter of people doing multiple jobs. Even last week, he made himself present at the production meeting. He’s in with the other EVPs and he watches the product, which is massive. He’s not there just for the check, and it’s really nice to see him helping a whole new generation. So I can see the on-air role swiftly becoming a backstage role.”

On what cage AEW will use for his matchup with MJF: “I can’t answer that (laughs). I know, but I could. The most important thing to me about a steel cage in television wrestling — and this is for timing and the pomp and circumstance — is that it’s able to be lowered from the ceiling. That’s my one prerequisite for a cage.”

On the process of booking the Prudential Center in New Jersey: “We have to earn (an arena’s) trust, so we get solicited by a lot of buildings now that we have a good track record, and we just sold our 100,000th ticket and we hope to continue that. But I think in the New York area, there is a lot more of the courtesy calling going on. They don’t want to have multiple wrestling companies or feel a sense of loyalty. That’s something I totally understand, but if you come to us then I don’t understand it. So it was more of me just personally glad we got through all the weeds on the potential buildings. There’s a ton of buildings in the area that I performed in, whether it be Barclays (Center), Nassau (Coliseum) or the mecca MSG. And I really do hope you see AEW in all those buildings at some point.”

On AEW potentially partnering up with NJPW: “I think the thing that was strange to me was people were asking for this partnership. I don’t know what a partnership would look like other than what you saw. Chris Jericho was part of one of the main events of Wrestle Kingdom, Jon Moxley as well. They both were successful. What did he call it? The forbidden door? … The forbidden door. It may be forbidden, but clearly the door is opening and closing and opening and closing. It’s public knowledge that some guys here, myself included, have exemptions to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling. But I know that New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s focus is New Japan and AEW’s focus is AEW. So more likely what a partnership would look like is perhaps some sharing of talent, some shared creative, but we’re not going to do a Super Clash III where (Kerry) Von Erich and (Jerry) Lawler are fighting over the title (in 1988). Sorry, that’s a real specific angle I brought up. I’m always hesitant to combine banners versus just respecting each other’s banners. But I like how it’s referred to as the forbidden door. I don’t really think it’s forbidden at all. Like I said, many people have the exemption to work there. They put on a great Wrestle Kingdom. They have some amazing talent, particularly Will Ospreay. He’s a top-five wrestler in the world right now. So, we’ll see where that goes. I know everyone pretty much feels the same about it.”

On his hopes to explore the relationship in the next year: “I think it’s something in the next year that we will hopefully all explore. We’ll explore on our end, they’ll explore on their end and we’ll see if it works.”

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