According to a report by Fightful Select, most AEW talent who haven’t worked in Japan very much don’t consider the development of a possible NJPW/AEW relationship a primary concern of theirs and haven’t heard much discussion about it. The consensus is that everyone is aware there was some bad blood on both sides of the split when much of NJPW’s talent left for AEW.
One of the wrestlers from AEW commented:
“It definitely won’t hurt things. Most people here are still in touch with the people over there and Meij had alienated a lot of the English-speakers they had on the roster. There wasn’t a lot of belief in him to begin with, but the way he handled that wasn’t good. Tony (Khan) has done his best to keep it amicable.”
A former NJPW star added:
“A lot of the deals are set up to allow people to work there. He could avoid that if he wanted. I think that’s a pretty clear sign whether he says it or not that he wants to. I don’t know if he had a personal relationship with Harold, but I did, and I didn’t want to do business with Harold anymore.”
Lastly, a member of the NJPW roster commented that he seems very optimistic about a relationship between the two companies down the road:
“it would mean more money for New Japan, AEW and the wrestlers.” They noted however that NJPW’s expansion into the US may be a “hiccup” for such chances.
