Tony Khan Calls NJPW Ownership Shift ‘Something to Keep an Eye On’ Ahead of Forbidden Door

With Forbidden Door on the horizon, AEW president Tony Khan addressed the elephant in the room: a significant ownership change at his longtime Japanese partner, New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

In a development that caught many in the industry off guard, Bushiroad — the company that had owned NJPW — transferred all of its shares in the promotion to TV Asahi and CyberAgent in late May. The move reshuffled the ownership picture for one of professional wrestling’s most storied brands, and naturally raised questions about what that might mean for the AEW-NJPW relationship that has produced Forbidden Door as an annual co-promoted pay-per-view event.

When asked about the change, Khan acknowledged it in measured terms, describing it as “something to keep an eye on.” It’s a careful, non-committal response from a promoter who has built one of AEW’s marquee events around the partnership — but it also signals that Khan is aware the landscape has shifted and is paying attention to how things develop under the new ownership structure.

TV Asahi is one of Japan’s major broadcast networks, while CyberAgent is a large digital media and internet company — both are significantly different in character from Bushiroad, a card game and entertainment company that had owned NJPW since 2012. How either entity will approach the promotion’s international relationships, including its ongoing work with AEW, remains to be seen.

For now, the partnership appears intact heading into Forbidden Door, but Khan’s guarded phrasing suggests the long-term picture is still very much an open question.