The infamous "forbidden door" between AEW and NJPW was opened when Jon Moxley appeared on the January 29 NJPW Strong, attacking KENTA.
Less than a week later, KENTA appeared on AEW Dynamite and returned the favor, attacking Moxley.
While the two companies have entered into some type of working agreement, Tama Tonga doesn't believe the "forbidden door" is completely wide open for anyone to enter and exit.
"Is the door wide open? Hell no, the door is not wide open Is it cracked open? Maybe. It can be something, but is it open? Hell no. Moxley came out to Japan way before he went to AEW, he contacted New Japan. That's still trickling over to now. COVID made things stretched out. It's only cracked open. Can it lead to it opening more? Yes. It's like building a trust. You don't open a door and trust somebody to walk into your house. You crack it open, see who the fuck is outside, say, 'What the fuck do you want?' and we talk like that. Then we can slowly open it up once we earn that trust. Let's earn that trust. KENTA being the man that he is, stepped forward. He's strong enough to bring us forward," Tama said on Tama's Island. "The reason I say the doors are not wide open is because it's Jon Moxley. He can float and do business. I don't feel like his contract is really just AEW, it's open to work with NJPW. If they had him under contract, the bosses could say he couldn't do it, right? I believe Moxley is the guy who has his contract open. Tony Khan is a smart dude. 'Let it happen on our show.' It has to be another dude that is only with AEW that is a big name where Tony Khan can say, 'True' and doesn't have an open contract. Then, one of our guys, that is only New Japan. It can't be a free floater guy. To me, when that happens, that's when the doors are open."
Tama also stated that he didn't know KENTA was going to appear on AEW Dynamite and that he likes everything being a nice surprise.
KENTA wrestled on Wednesday's Dynamite, teaming with Kenny Omega in a Falls Count Anywhere bout against Moxley and Lance Archer. If you missed anything from Wednesday's Dynamite, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
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