In an interview with NYPost.com, Cody Rhodes commented on the AEW/NJPW relationship rumors:
“I think the thing that was strange to me was people were asking for this partnership. I don’t know what a partnership would look like other than what you saw. Chris Jericho was part of one of the main events of Wrestle Kingdom, Jon Moxley as well. They both were successful. What did he call it? The forbidden door? … The forbidden door. It may be forbidden, but clearly the door is opening and closing and opening and closing. It’s public knowledge that some guys here, myself included, have exemptions to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling. But I know that New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s focus is New Japan and AEW’s focus is AEW.”
“So more likely what a partnership would look like is perhaps some sharing of talent, some shared creative, but we’re not going to do a Super Clash III where [WCWA champion Kerry] Von Erich and [AWA champ Jerry] Lawler are fighting over the title [in 1988]. Sorry, that’s a real specific angle I brought up. I’m always hesitant to combine banners versus just respecting each other’s banners. But I like how it’s referred to as the forbidden door. I don’t really think it’s forbidden at all. Like I said, many people have the exemption to work there. They put on a great Wrestle Kingdom. They have some amazing talent, particularly Will Ospreay. He’s a top-five wrestler in the world right now. So, we’ll see where that goes. I know everyone pretty much feels the same about it.
I think it’s something in the next year that we will hopefully all explore. We’ll explore on our end, they’ll explore on their end and we’ll see if it works.”
