Tony Khan Discusses AEW’s Relationship with TJPW Ahead of ‘Forbidden Door Season’

By Noah Leatherland

TJPW were in Vancouver, BC at the same time as AEW, with the second show of their Canada tour happening on the morning before AEW Dynasty. At the AEW Dynasty Media Scrum, Tony Khan was asked about the relationship between the two promotions.

The venues for AEW Dynasty and TJPW Vancouver Premiere Day 2 were about a 20 minute drive from each other. The TJPW show even ran early with the promise that fans would be able to attend both events. At the Dynasty Media Scrum, Khan was asked about working TJPW and spoke about them both running events in Vancouver:

I think its great when there’s a pro wrestling pay-per-view and other people bring events where the fans can go to these shows. Tokyo Joshi Pro did not ask or collab. I would’ve probably been interested, to be honest with you. And I like Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT. Now, I believe Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT are also owned by the same owner as NOAH, which is interesting because NOAH has some different things, which is OK. But I have done good with DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro. They’re different companies… It’s fair to say I probably do a lot more with DDT, because of Kenny [Omega] and [Konosuke] Takeshita and [Michael Nakazawa] and so that’s helped me build relationships with the men and women of DDT.

Speaking more particularly, Khan shared his admiration for a key TJPW talent:

I really like Miyu Yamashita, I’ve worked with her a lot. I have a very good relationship with her. I think she’s tremendous. Her being in Vancouver, she was not available to wrestle for me today because she had a show at 11:30 in the morning here in Vancouver. Their show started at 11:30 AM, so I was in my office this morning when that show started and I was kind of chuckling because I was like… I would have 100 percent helped them with that show if I knew they were doing it.

As the summer approaches, Khan also looked ahead to what he called ‘Forbidden Door season’:

I like Tokyo Joshi Pro and I’ve worked with them some. I’ve worked a lot with DDT and that’s great. Our pre-eminent partner is coming up on Forbidden Door season, it’s gonna be a great summer and one thing I can promise you we’re gonna be working with New Japan and STARDOM and CMLL to put a tremendous Forbidden Door together, but I love working with companies all over the world and I do like Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT very much.

Later in the scrum, Khan was asked about his wider approach to collaborating with other promotions:

It’s very important for AEW to have great relationships with partners all over the world. We’ve added partners and built new relationships and I think that’s a real strength of AEW that we work with numerous wrestling promotions, that helps us bring in fans from all over the world and I think I’ve built a lot of trust with other wrestling promoters, and my word goes a long way… I like working with wrestling promotions all over the world… It is something that is really important in AEW.

AEW and TJPW have collaborated in the past. TJPW talent have appeared on AEW and Ring of Honor programming. AEW talent have also appeared in TJPW. The current Princess Tag Team Champions, The IInspiration, are also signed to AEW.

Miyu Yamashita also added to Khan’s comments on X:

Members of the TJPW roster were also in attendance at Dynasty, with Wakana Uehara sharing her experience of the event on X: