Swerve Strickland Weighs In On Current State Of AEW & NJPW Relationship

The relationship between AEW and NPW is a bit of a hot button topic at the moment, and Swerve Strickland recently offered his take on the subject. Yota Tsuji brought up the topic when he said he didn’t plan on defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Tsuji took issue with the way the championship has been defended at past Forbidden Doors, which led to responses from Will Ospreay and Yota Tsuji.

Strickland was asked about the matter during his recent interview with Forbes. You can see the highlights below:

On the Relationship Between the Two Companies:

“I think it’s in an interesting place right now because I think New Japan is in an interesting place. They’re still trying to find their new stars, their talents that take them into the next generation. AEW is in a place where all of our stars are trying to rise to the top. Kevin Knight has found his own. Kyle Fletcher is finding his own. Bandido is stepping into his own. Now you’ve got Takeshita finally besting Okada. That was a former New Japan legend over there. All these guys are stepping into their own. It’s like all these guys have to be showcased now in certain ways.”

On Talent Stepping Up In NJPW:

“It’s almost like New Japan hasn’t found all of the guys who are stepping into their own yet, but you are getting the Callum Newmans and the Yota Tsujis. There are guys over there, but now it’s like, can their guys match the amount of guys that we have stepping up? That’s the challenge right now. It’s the new wave of talent matching up.”

On STARDOM:

“I would say the same thing about the women with Stardom as well. It’s all about matching up that wave of talent that’s rising up. You want to meet them at the same time, not when one side is rising higher than the other.”