Recently New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) President Harold Meij spoke with Max Laughton of Fox Sports Australia. During the interview, Meij spoke on several key points, including a possible relationship between NJPW and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and an eventual Australian partner.
Speaking on the heavily requested NJPW and AEW relationship, Harold Meij left the door open.
We’re very open to working with anyone, we don’t exclude anyone. But it does take time to create that trust between companies.
And right now AEW is still in the exploratory phase; they’re trying to establish themselves as a brand, what is that brand? They’re about one year in, and we’re starting to see what their brand is all about. Then we’ll have to see if that brand fits our brand of course.
At this stage, they still have different styles than we do, and that’s the only thing. We’re looking at what their brand positioning is and whether it complements ours.
The comments are interesting as the IWGP Conception currently consists of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), and Ring of Honor (ROH). Despite recent derogatory comments from the ROH front office, Harold Meiji did confirm ROH remains a partner with NJPW. However, that doesn’t mean NJPW is internally happy with the conduct of ROH General Manager Greg Gilleland.
“We’re always open to looking for partners, we already have several strong ones in the world. We definitely need to expand that,” says Harold Meiji when asked about partnering with an Australian wrestling promotion. “Japanese companies and Japanese culture in that sense is very loyal; it takes a while to get that loyalty, but once you get it, it doesn’t go away. It takes time but once we do it, we’re there for life,” he continues in the Fox Sports interview.
Of note, NJPW currently has numerous ties to Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW) in Australia which are the likely favorites to eventually join the IWGP Conception. However, the Fale Dojo (a part of the NJPW Dojo System) is teaming with PWA Black Label for the Liger Down Under event, which will be Jushin Thunder Liger’s last wrestling match in Australia and likely his final matches before his retirement bouts on January 4th and January 5th at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Meij went on to again dispel rumors that NJPW attempted to keep former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega from entering the country. He also went out of his way to wish AEW best wishes as they attempt to establish their business within the United States.
While publicly unknown, the timing of Meij’s interview and Omega speaking to the Wrestling Observer regarding NJPW and his incident with Japanese immigration, it seems some of the tension between the two front offices has begun to subside.
With Bushiroad owning NJPW and Stardom, a possible alliance between NJPW and AEW would link together NJPW, AEW, CMLL, Stardom, ROH, RevPro, and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) is a loose relationship consisting of IWGP Conception and AEW aligned promotions.
