AEW allows their stars to pursue other passions outside of the company as long as it doesn’t conflict or compete with their business. This policy includes allowing their stars to make trips to Japan for NJPW events.
Traveling to Japan from the United States isn’t very easy in 2020. Jon Moxley is the IWGP United States Champion and that could present an interesting problem. We’ll have to see how they solve it.
Brodie Lee told Wrestling Inc that he’s allowed to take NJPW bookings. Right now they haven’t been able to work anything out for obvious reasons.
“I have the possibility to do both those things. I think the indie work will be a bit more selective. New Japan is always a bucket list kind of item for me. So if the right opportunity came along, I would love to do it. In America, I’m AEW exclusive.”
Brodie Lee also confirmed AEW’s policy about competing in NJPW events within the USA. They are not allowed to compete with that US business, but traveling to Japan for those shows is okay. We’ll just have to wait for things to clear up a bit in terms of the pandemic before Brodie Lee will start booking any flights to Japan.