AEW In Talks With STARDOM?
What will come of talks between AEW and leading joshi group STARDOM?
All Elite Wrestling has held talks that could potentially open another Forbidden Door in wrestling.
Dave Meltzer reports in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Tony Khan's group has been in communication with market-leading joshi promotion World Wonder League STARDOM, which shares a parent company, Bushiroad, with current AEW partners New Japan Pro Wrestling.
AEW and STARDOM had not struck a deal at the time of writing, though something is expected to come of these discussions. Per Meltzer, STARDOM is interested in booking some of AEW's female wrestlers, with Toni Storm amongst them. The New Zealand-Australian star worked multiple STARDOM tours between 2016 and 2019.
Prior to the event, STARDOM had been speculated as potential a collaborator for AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door on 26 June. This would have been a way for the promoters to add inter-promotional women's matches to the card, though AEW founder and CEO Tony Khan confirmed during the post-show media scrum that while he was interested in booking STARDOM wrestlers, their lack of working visas was a hurdle.
NJPW and STARDOM's first collaborative event takes place on Sunday 20 November. This follows several years of STARDOM wrestlers competing at New Japan's signature show, Wrestle Kingdom.