More on AEW Title Factoring into NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Match, Tony Khan Okaying the Angle

– New details are available on how a possible AEW World Championship shot ended up factoring into the Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 tonight. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave an update as to how the Wrestle Kingdom match turned into a situation where Tanahashi will get an AEW World Championship if he beats Jericho.

Meltzer said that every story he’s had has been consistent talking to several people about it, and said that Jericho and Tanahashi were looking to find something to add some additional stakes to the match. After they decided on the idea of putting an AEW Title Match in potential play, Jericho and Rocky Romero talked with Tony Khan and asked if they could involve the championship in the storyline. Khan agreed to it, after which New Japan put the storyline on their official website.

Meltzer noted that at this point, AEW is not referencing the storyline. AEW has not mentioned it on TV or on AEWrestling.com. That decision not to mention it was made by Tony Khan.

The use of the AEW Championship does not mean that an ongoing deal between the two companies is done. Meltzer noted that there is still a lot of bad blood between the two companies, and that people in the middle think that if NJPW President Harold Meij agrees to the idea, that a deal could be worked out. But as of now, there is no such deal in place and there are a lot of obstacles in the way.