On the June 8 episode of AEW Dynamite, AEW introduced the All-Atlantic Championship, a new singles title in the company.
The first-ever All-Atlantic Champion will be crowned at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in a four-way bout. Competitors from different countries will compete in qualifying matches with the winners advancing to Forbidden Door. Pac has already advanced, defeating Buddy Matthews in his qualifying bout.
Speaking to Connor Casey of ComicBook, Tony Khan explained the decision to introduce the championship.
"...So for the international fans and for the international wrestlers on the roster, I felt like it would create more opportunities. But I also don't think this title or these opportunities are exclusive to the international wrestlers. But it's a big benefit of the term," he said.
AEW already has the World Championship and TNT Championship as men's singles titles. The ROH World Title, ROH Pure Title, and ROH TV TItle have also been defended on AEW TV.
Speaking about the additional AEW title to go along with the ROH titles, Khan said,
"The Ring of Honor Championships right now have primarily been defended in recent months in AEW, all across our shows. And I think it has benefited, for example, on AEW Dark and Elevation. First of all, on AEW Dynamite and Rampage, we've seen Samoa Joe defend the Ring of Honor World Television title. With Battle of the Belts, we've seen Jonathan Gresham defend the Ring of Honor World Championship. And then recently on Dark and Elevation, we've had Wheeler Yuta defending the Pure title and Mercedes Martinez defending the Women's World title. Fans have asked in the past, 'Hey, would there be champions on Dark and Elevation?' Now we have had some good championship matches and I think there will still be some to come in the future across AEW shows.
"But also I look forward to hopefully getting the Ring of Honor weekly TV back," he added. "And restarted under our management and hopefully, the best TV we could possibly do, and on a great outlet. And that's something we're still working on. And I think when there's a weekly home for Ring of Honor, then there will be that much more programming where these championships can live."
The second qualifying bout to compete in te four-way at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door will take place on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite Road Rager as Miro battles Ethan Page.
Fans can check out the current lineup for Wednesday's AEW Dynamite by clicking here.
