Tony Khan believes that cross-promotion has been serving AEW well.
Ever since Chris Jericho and Hiroshi Tanahashi teased the “Forbidden Door” ahead of their Wrestle Kingdom 14 match back in 2020, fans have been buzzing about potential dream matches. While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down, we’ve been seeing the “Forbidden Door” come to life the past few months.
During an appearance on Tuesday Wrestling Tuesday, Tony Khan explained how doing business with other promotions benefits AEW.
“IMPACT, AAA, and certainly New Japan, I’ve done a lot of stuff with. It has to make sense for AEW and we’ve seen wrestlers from AEW go and capture championships in different promotions around the world. A lot of AEW wrestlers still hold championships in various promotions around the world and it’s good for those promotions to have such strong recognizable champions who have a great TV platform to wear their titles. And it’s good for us because it shows that we’re the top company in wrestling, frankly, and a lot of companies out there have had our wrestlers come in and do really well.
“I’m very open to it and it shows good bonds between the companies and allows us access to good wrestlers. We have one of the best rosters, but it’s always good to have fresh and different talent. It’s why I like working with other companies. Also, New Japan has had big shows and have great talent specifically. I’ve done a lot of things with them. The main focus is on AEW and our shows. We have such a big roster and so much bandwidth that it allows us to expand, partner, and help other wrestling companies.”
We’ve seen the likes of Kenny Omega hold titles in Impact Wrestling and AAA. Christian Cage is the current Impact Wrestling World Champion. NJPW stars have been featured on both AEW and Impact. AEW has also done business with NWA.
