El Desperado States That Tony Khan Is Like A Rare Pokemon

By: Lewis Carlan

New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling have enjoy a strong working relationship for many years that has seen numerous talent exchanges between the promotions.

AEW and NJPW have been collaborating on the now annual Forbidden Door since the inception of the popular event in 2022.

NJPW superstar El Desperado, who has competed on a number of Forbidden Door events, was interviewed recently by Monthly Puroresu and was asked about his thoughts on the current relationship between NJPW and AEW.

Desperado indicated that both AEW and NJPW have incredible wrestlers and hopes fans can enjoy some more good talent exchanges but understands that economics can sometimes get in the way of that happening.

From El Desperado:

“NJPW and AEW both have incredible wrestlers, so I hope fans on both sides can experience that with some good talent exchanges- though I know the economics, especially the weak Yen makes that challenging.

El Desperado also had high praise for AEW owner Tony Khan who he stated is like a rare Pokémon to him.

From El Desperado:

Tony [Khan] is amazing. Starting up a new pro-wrestling organization on that scale is such a difficult thing to do, so I have huge respect for him. I’ve been to America a lot, but we’ve barely met for more than a second. He’s like a rare Pokemon to me.”

El Desperado may have set the wheels in motion for a potential inter-promotional bout with AEW’s Gabe Kidd.

After Kidd defeated Shota Umino for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, he called out a few NJPW stars including El Desperado. Desperado took exception to this and responded on X.

This is definitely a situation to keep our eyes on as Kidd will be competing in NJPW for the next month in the G1 Climax 36 tournament.

For the full Monthly Puroresu El Desperado interview, click here.