Thekla States That She Respects Yota Tsuji For His Comments About AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Event

Yota Tsuji receives props from Thekla.

After Yota Tsuji regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Dominion, he spoke to the press and expressed that he was leaning towards skipping the 2026 AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view. He added that he wants to protect the value of his championship.

Those comments began to circulate on social media, and one of the names to speak on it was AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla. She told TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast that she respects Tsuji for what he said.

“I’ve been seeing the comments that (Yota) Tsuji has been making. Honestly, I kind of respect him for that, because he’s just straight up like, ‘No, we got our own thing here in Japan’ and he would rather have it all apart from each other. I have never been this proud to represent a company, I have to say. This is the most precious bling I’ve ever been holding as a champion… and especially with how STARDOM and me, we’re not on good terms, per se. I’ve never been that proud to represent STARDOM anywhere. As I said, it’s interesting to see how it’s all gonna play out honestly because AEW and New Japan and STARDOM and CMLL, I feel like we’re all in one group and one kind of family but there’s also with comments like Tsuji’s making, it’s interesting to see where we’re gonna go. Are we gonna be (a) happy family or is everybody gonna go their own ways? I think the Forbidden Door is there to be kicked down and burned but, also, there’s something to New Japan trying to get back on their feet just all by themselves. That’s what I think.”

As of this writing, Tsuji is not scheduled for the June 28th pay-per-view. Will Ospreay’s reaction to Tsuji’s remarks can be read at this link.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.