Yota Tsuji Wants To Equalize Relationship Between NJPW & AEW

Current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji has been very open about his thoughts on the partnership between his home promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and AEW. Despite stating that he respects AEW President Tony Khan, even inviting him for a game of golf at one point, Tsuji has publicly stated that he wants NJPW to cut ties with AEW due to the partnership being too one-sided and wanted to level the playing field by leading a boycott of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view that took place earlier this year.

However, it seems that Tsuji's stance on AEW has softened in recent weeks and "Gene Blast" is willing to smooth things over. In the press conference to promote NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2026, which takes place on September 27, Tsuji not only addressed his opponent for the event Hirooki Goto, but also admitted that he wants things to be on an even footing with AEW. "Mr. Goto, the match in Kobe is getting more and more exciting. Of course, winning the IWGP in Kobe is the most important thing. I went to Vietnam the other day. Did you watch 'Blast of ASIA' (on the NJPW YouTube channel)? I'm going to keep holding the IWGP Title, and I'm going to spread New Japan Pro-Wrestling—no, pro-wrestling itself—even further across Asia, and one more thing: I need to work on establishing an equal relationship with AEW."

There will be some AEW involvement in the Destruction in Kobe event this weekend as two matches feature members of the All Elite Wrestling roster. In a special singles match, Claudio Castagnoli will go one-on-one with Shingo Takagi after Takagi wanted revenge for being pinned by Castagnoli on an episode of "AEW Collision" back in July. Then in the semi-main event, Drilla Moloney will challenge AEW star and current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Gabe Kidd for his title, with the two men having a long history with each other thanks to their time as part of the Bullet Club War Dogs.

Please credit NJPW when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Fightful for the translation.