Tony Khan is on board with the idea of a ‘World Cup’ of pro wrestling. He knows it wouldn’t be easy to get WWE on board working with the likes of All Elite Wrestling New Japan Pro Wrestling, but he’s open to working with “anybody” for the greater good.
“You never know.”
– Tony Khan
Last year’s AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view was successful, despite injuries nixing plans for several inter-promotional dream matches. An event of this magnitude involving competing promotions can present a lot of hurdles that need to be cleared. Khan worked hard to establish a level of trust with NJPW executives. Having been down that road once before, the AEW President is optimistic this could be done on an even larger scale.
Tony Khan Open to a ‘World Cup’ of Wrestling
Earlier this week, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada expressed interest in organizing a wrestling World Cup. He said he’d be willing to meet with Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque to broker a deal to make such an event a reality.
Tony Khan appeared on the Battleground podcast and was asked about the wrestling World Cup concept. During his conversation with Tim Battle, TK said he loved last year’s Forbidden Door show and would be willing to work with “anybody” on an even bigger inter-promotional super-event.
“There are challenges to putting on an event like that, and getting the matches set, but it’s certainly something I would be open to,” he said. “I’m open to working with anybody in pro wrestling. You never know.”
Khan has already co-promoted a pay-per-view with NJPW. He’s featured talent (and championships) from Impact and AAA on AEW television. Without saying who “anybody” is, it’s clear who the big holdout would be. It’s unlikely that WWE would sign off on working with AEW in any capacity, but 2022 and (already) 2023 have shown us that even the most outlandish scenarios may come to pass.
H/T to Fightful and Jeremy Lambert for the transcribed quotes
