Tony Khan Calls AEW’s Early Relationship With NJPW a “Cold War” as AEW Stars Prepare for Wrestle Kingdom 21

By: Thom Fain

AEW president Tony Khan said Thursday that AEW’s relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling was a “cold war” in 2019 and 2020, and that the two companies are now close partners as AEW stars prepare to wrestle at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 21 show at the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 4.

Khan spoke on a media call ahead of AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view on Saturday, in answer to a question about the number of AEW wrestlers on the Dome card. Japan’s Wrestling-NOW published his remarks in Japanese on Friday morning under a headline about his account of the past friction between the companies.

Khan said the early years between the companies were not good and named Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho, who worked for both, as links between them. He said he became close to NJPW’s Rocky Romero and Gedo in 2021, which led to a working agreement and the first joint Forbidden Door show in June 2022.

Among the cross-promotional matches for the Dome show: IWGP Heavyweight champion Yota Tsuji against Kenny Omega, Shingo Takagi against Moxley, and G1 Climax winner Ryohei Oiwa against MJF.

Omega Tells Weekly Pro He Wants a “Fifty-Fifty” NJPW–AEW Relationship and Could Rethink Young Wrestlers if Tsuji Wins

Khan said the lineup looks a lot like the Wrestle Dynasty card, the Tokyo Dome show the two companies ran together in January 2025, and that NJPW seems to want to make Wrestle Kingdom as big as possible. He mentioned that NJPW had perhaps decided to “build the plane out of the black box,” which he noted was a great call.

NJPW’s wrestlers have spoken about AEW in firmer terms.

Taichi said on Nov. 1 that NJPW is not AEW’s subsidiary. At the Nov. 4 news conference for the Dome main event, Omega said he is not coming back as AEW’s representative and wants to find out for himself whether he is the strongest. Japanese fans commenting on Yahoo Japan stories about the Omega–Tsuji match this month were split between those who welcomed AEW’s stars, and those who said NJPW should not need them to sell the Dome.

Omega, the Young Bucks and others left NJPW in 2019 to start AEW, and NJPW was reportedly unhappy about how the departures were communicated. The Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, said they felt betrayed by how they were treated at the end of their time there. So it also tracks that after the Jericho-Hiroshi Tanahashi match at Wrestle Kingdom in January 2020 rumors of a partnership spread, although then-NJPW president Harold Meij did not rule out working with AEW he said both sides needed time.

KENTA, then with NJPW, appeared on AEW Dynamite in February 2021.

NJPW announced attendance of 46,913 for Wrestle Kingdom 20 on Jan. 4, 2026, a sellout, with AEW’s Kazuchika Okada beating Tanahashi in his retirement match.

In a recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was reported that NJPW wants to top 25,000 for Wrestle Kingdom 21.