AEW Dynamite really had people talking last night due to several references and an appearance from Tanahashi. Following the speculation that this was a sign of an AEW and NJPW working relationship, Dave Meltzer noted on Twitter that this wasn’t necessarily the case. Melter wrote, “Not necessarily, that was Jericho’s doing. He loves Tanahashi. Ultimo Dragon was on as well.”
Meltzer would elaborate later on Wrestling Observer Radio that Tanahashi’s appearance was done because Jericho requested it and they had no problem allowing it. He added that any other reference to Japan was merely coincidental. Jericho and Luther’s encounter from Japan was mentioned, but it was tied into their current storyline which centered around Jericho’s career and took place decades ago. The feud between Lance Archer and Jon Moxley was always going to be centered around their Death Match from January at the Tokyo Dome, so that has nothing to do with NJPW’s current management issues.
Meltzer does acknowledge that a relationship between the two parties could change in the future. As Fightful reported yesterday, there’s a lot of issues to work out between both sides right now. Meltzer pointed out that Harold Meij still works with NJPW for at least this week, so nothing would have changed this soon anyway. There, also, may not be any rush for the two companies to come to any kind of a deal due to the pandemic limiting how talent could travel or work between the two countries.