AEW Owner Tony Khan Behind Seismic Wrestling Shift

A curious line-up on AEW Dynamite saw a major shift in the relationship between two companies that Tony Khan doesn’t even own.

Dynamite in Loveland, Colorado saw The Blackpool Combat Club back at full strength as Wheeler Yuta returned to the ring for the first time in five months. The quartet faced off against four stars from CMLL with Yuta picking up the win for his team.

CMLL looks like it will be a part of Forbidden Door for the first time on June 30th but the promotion’s relationship with AEW has not been without difficulty. Mexican political issues mean that CMLL stars had not been able to share the same show with Mexican-associated AAA stars but this seemed to change on Dynamite.

Rey Fenix, who is one of those AAA-associated stars – competed on the same Dynamite show as he won a four-way match to become the next challenger to Will Ospreay’s AEW International Championship. Rush also appeared on the show in a non-wrestling capacity as he confronted MJF.

Tony Khan Works Out Long-Time Issues

Discussing the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted CMLL’s stance on sharing a stage with AAA’s stars has obviously changed and hinted Tony Khan’s deep pockets might have had something to do with it:

Tony Khan said that they had pretty much worked it out. So that means at Forbidden Door that Rush and Fenix and all these guys can appear on it. Money talks I guess. After a while you get relationships and he’s really been a good partner for New Japan, he’s trying to be a good partner for CMLL and I guess CMLL got less stubborn as they are trying to expose their guys in this country.

It makes more sense for them. I mean, CMLL guys are getting more and more work in this country and there’s even talk of CMLL trying to do shows in this country. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, I don’t think they’ll do it on their own but time will tell.

How long this peace between AAA and CMLL lasts remains to be seen but with WWE and TNA also working together in recent weeks, it seems no one wants to be left out of this new era of co-operation that is seemingly permeating the wacky world of wrestling.

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