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Rocky Romero thinks the partnership between AEW and NJPW has been a successful one.
The two companies officially began their partnership in February 2021, after NJPW refused to work together since AEW began. Their issue stemmed from AEW signing stars like Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in 2019, although things were squashed after Harold Meij was replaced as company president.
Since then, the promotions have worked together on numerous shows, including the annual Forbidden Door events. Rocky Romero has worked closely with both sides as a liaison and sees the relationship as a successful one.
Rocky Romero spoke with Fightful about the AEW & NJPW relationship and his role in it. He revealed that he worked closely with both AEW and NJPW, calling it a “big puzzle”.
He added that keeping both sides happy is like playing Monopoly.
“I worked very closely with Tony on this end and I worked very close with the booking committee in Japan and Tanahashi and everybody involved with that and obviously they everybody knows who’s important on their side and it kind of always starts there and then we can kind of trickle down to see like where everybody fits. It’s like a big puzzle. Putting it all together and trying to make everybody happy and there’s side deals that go along. It’s a lot like playing Monopoly. It’s like side deals going on, like, ‘Okay, well, if we give you this here, can we get this there.’”
Rocky Romero: It’s Been A Very Successful Compromise On Both Sides
Rocky Romero continued, sharing that both sides have compromised as part of the relationship, and that the AEW/NJPW partnership is one that will be around for a long, long time.
“I think it’s been a very successful compromise on both sides since the relationship started. I know like there’s people who probably don’t fully understand the scope of it, but have are quick to you know make their opinion known of who’s getting more and who’s not and I always say like this is a relationship that’s not here for six months, we’re doing one show and that’s it. This is going to be a relationship that is going to be built for and worked on for a very long time. So I always tell people have patience and I think that that’s the one thing in professional wrestling that most fans and most people don’t have is patience to see how it’s all gonna play out.”
