Rocky Romero was the key to opening the forbidden door between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Rocky Romero was the latest guest on The Sessions with Renee Paquette to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about his role in building the bridge between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan, Romero admitted that things started off a bit rocky, but he was able to build those bridges between the two companies during the pandemic.
“The relationship between New Japan and AEW kind of started off a little rocky, obviously, The Elite, being a part of New Japan and then obviously this new company starting and what that was going to look like was kind of strange. Because Kenny [Omega] was a contracted wrestler and he was leaving to start a new company. So it was like, it didn’t start off the best,” Rocky Romero said. “And definitely, the president at the time was kind of opposed to working with AEW in the beginning.
“So definitely, people like [Chris] Jericho, [Jon] Moxley, and Omega were kind of the ones to really get this whole kind of forbidden door idea started and getting the companies to work together. And then, finally, I think with the pandemic, everything was closed off. There was only certain wrestlers that could go back and forth between Japan and America.
“Which basically made the opportunity for the KENTA and Moxley angle to happen on the New Japan side, which also Moxley versus Omega that was happening in AEW, and then Omega reached out and was like, ‘I got this crazy idea to bring KENTA to AEW, what do you think? Do you think New Japan will go for it?’ And I said, ‘Well, I think now’s a great time to try it,’ and worked out.
“I feel like it worked out when KENTA showed up on Dynamite, nobody was expecting that, and this was still taping Jacksonville in front of just a few hundred fans or whatever it was. But it was a really amazing moment, and that was kind of what definitely started to get things going. I met with Tony [Khan], and Tony was really, really cool. And how excited he was about working with New Japan, how much he wanted to work with New Japan, how much of a fan he was of New Japan before AEW.
“So it just kind of worked itself out. And then I just was starting to gain a little trust on both sides. I think we finally came up with the idea; I think I texted with Tony like, ‘What if we just did like a super show of some sort? The matches could be mixed. They could be New Japan matches, AEW matches, whatever it is; let’s just put the idea out there. I would love to see if we can make something work.’ And then Tony was immediately like, ‘I have like eight matches I’m ready to,’ so many ideas right off the bat.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is great. This is great. This is awesome.’ And I’m thinking I hope New Japan says yes. So then I went back to New Japan. I told him about it, and all of a sudden it became a reality, and things started happening behind the scenes where we’re talking about well, how would it work? Who handles the production?
“So I just was going back and forth between Chris Harrington and the New Japan office, between Tony and New Japan office, and just going back and forth, and then we were able to put this show together, and it was a crazy experience because New Japan is such a live event company and AEW is obviously like television company. So two very different worlds.
“We had some scheduling conflicts and then obviously COVID a lot, and we had injuries on top of that. So the original plan changed a bunch, but it was cool that both companies were willing to make it work and figure out how to make this thing work. And it was a huge, huge success. I mean, one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year.”
What do you make of Rocky Romero’s comments? Are you happy that New Japan and All Elite Wrestling have a working relationship with one another? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Sessions with a link back to this article for the transcription.
