With old obstacles out of the way, Chris Jericho believes the sky is the limit for the partnership between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan.
All Elite Wrestling’s Chris Jericho recently sat down with Monthly Puroresu to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about the early issues between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan, Jericho placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Harold Meij, the former president of NJPW.
“The problem was Harold Meij, that was the problem. He just didn’t get it,” Chris Jericho said. “I don’t think he even really understood what he was doing there. I even put a sign up on my room at, I think, the last Tokyo Dome show which said ‘No Harold Meij allowed.’ Like, I just didn’t want to talk to the guy. He just didn’t understand.
“I don’t think he really understood what he was dealing with and what the big picture was. And how big, like for example, having Chris Jericho on the show could be. He was worried about the money I was making… Meanwhile, the money that I made was far eclipsed by the subscriptions that we sold and the tickets sold. He didn’t know the wrestling business. He just didn’t get it. He didn’t know the wrestling business. It was a strange call [not to work with us], and it just didn’t work.”
When it was brought up that Meij was known as a marketing guy, Jericho said he spoke to him and told him if he were truly a marketing guy, he would understand how big of an opportunity it was for the two companies to work together.
“Yeah. But I spoke to him about it like, ‘If you’re a marketing guy, you’d understand how huge it could be to have AEW you know, in the Tokyo Dome.’ And how huge it’d be for New Japan to invade The Forum,” Chris Jericho said. “Maybe he just didn’t get it, didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Almost looking down on AEW. “What are you guys gonna do?” And now, here in 2022, you can see what we have going on with New Japan. And we haven’t even done it in Japan yet, which we could easily, but that’s, you know, probably to be happening soon.”
When asked about All Elite Wrestling eventually holding a show in Japan, Jericho said all the puzzle pieces are there for it to happen when the time is right.
“The story is there. And once again, if you look at 2018, 2019 and 2020, Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho headlined the Tokyo Dome between the two of us,” Chris Jericho said. “Actually, I think 2017 as well. Between four years, the two of us headlined the Tokyo Dome – one of four years in a row. Like the Tokyo Dome.
“The three years I did, it was two main events and I was one, and Kenny was the other in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020 Kenny had gone – but I was still one of the main events. So in 2017, Kenny was the main event. So you look at Kenny and Jericho, I mean it’s right there. Whatever combination you wanna put us in – we’ll draw. I mean you could put Kenny and Jericho as the ‘Golden Jets,’ which is Bobby Hall’s nickname in Winnipeg in the seventies, the Golden Jets.
“This is like Tanahashi and Ibushi or Okada and Ibushi or whatever it may be. I think that’s the Tokyo Dome main event right there. You know, I mean it’s easy. So all of those bullets are in the chamber, so to speak. And I’m sure we’ll get to it when the time is right.”
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What do you make of Chris Jericho’s comments? Are you happy to see All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling working together? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
