New Details On AEW World Title Shot Being On The Line In New Japan, Could It Lead To AEW/New Japan Working Together

More than just Chris Jericho talked Tony Kahn into allowing this angle.

Tonight at Wrestle Kingdom Chris Jericho will face Hiroshi Tanahashi in one of the top matches on the card. If Tanahashi can defeat Jericho he will get a shot at the All Elite Wrestling World Championship. In storyline this all stemmed from an interview Tanahashi did where he said he wanted a title shot if he beat Jericho. Jericho then did a video saying he was given permission to put the title shot on the line. We now know a little more about how this all came together.

According to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer stated that both Jericho and Tanahashi felt that they needed something to raise the stakes in their match to make it more important. The two then thought maybe putting a title shot on the line would be that but needed permission to do so. Meltzer said that both Jericho and New Japan’s Rocky Romero are the ones who spoke to and convinced Tony Khan to allow this angle to take place in New Japan.

As far as what this could mean in AEW, Meltzer stated that Khan did not want this mentioned at all on television. This is why when the video package that played on Dynamite this week with Jericho was done to make you think he was there live but outside the building in the parking lot.

If you have noticed the title shot on the line has not been mentioned on AEW’s website or any of their social media channels. That again was a Tony Khan call. With some saying that the door is now open for AEW and New Japan to work together, that does not mean they will because this stipulation was allowed. Even if Tanahashi wins and does get the title match, that could all take place in Japan and never be mentioned in AEW or the United States.

“Here’s a little bit more that I did not know, talked to several people, heard from a number of several other people. I mean, pretty much every story I’ve got is consistent. The thing I’ll always say is like, if there is something and they want to do that big surprise angle, they’re not gonna tell me ahead of time. The way this has all gone down is that Jericho and Tanahashi were trying to come up with something new, put more stakes in their match. Rocky Romero talked to Tony Khan and Jericho talked to Tony Khan and asked if they can involve the AEW title in their storyline and Tony Khan said that’s fine. New Japan put it on their website, they were gonna go with it as well. If you notice on Wednesday’s AEW television, it was not mentioned once. On the AEW website it’s not mentioned once and that was Tony Khan’s call. We are not going to mention it.”

Melzter mentioned there is still major bad blood between the two sides. New Japan President Harold Meij is one who is not open to talking with AEW at this time. It was also stated that on the AEW side there is bad blood over legal threats New Japan had made. It’s unclear what those legal threats could be but we do know that Tony Khan was talking with The Young Bucks, Cody and Kenny Omega will before their contracts were up and they were legal free agents.

“There’s a lot of blad blood, more than I thought. I know people think, who are in the middle of this, that if Harold Meij gives the ok, that they can work it all out and I think that they can myself too– It can happen, but there’s a lot of obstacles. You know there’s bad blood on the other side too and for good reason to. There’s a lot of stuff that went down — just a lot of stuff. Some that people know, but a lot that people don’t. I mean legal threats and things that were really unnecessary from the New Japan side. So it’s like, no one’s talking about that. They’re eluding to it but it’s there.”

There have been rumors swirling around that a meeting could take place between AEW and New Japan executives and that is not the case. Cody was in New York City last night and we know that The Young Bucks are in Southern California today.

If you want to see tonight’s Wrestle Kingdom show with the Chris Jericho vs Hiroshi Tanahashi match you can do by subscribing to New Japan World or ordering the event on FITE TV.

If you use any of the quote in the article please credit Pro Wrestling Unlimited for the transcript of the quotes.