AEW Double or Nothing: OWE makes All Out plea to US embassy after Chinese wrestlers denied visas
- Appearance by four OWE stars at All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view in Las Vegas had to be cancelled
- Vice-president Michael Nee urges US embassy to ‘please let us come’ for AEW’s next big show, All Out, in Chicago
To almost all who watched, All Elite Wrestling’s debut pay-per-view event “Double or Nothing” at a sold-out MGM Grand in Las Vegas went off without a hitch. But it was a bittersweet weekend for China’s Oriental Wrestling Entertainment.
OWE are one of two official partners of AEW, the new upstart American promotion backed by billionaire Tony Khan that begins a US television deal with TNT later this year as they look to challenge WWE’s long-held supremacy.
Three of OWE’s Japanese talents – CIMA, T-Hawk and El Lindaman – showcased their skills in the PPV’s excellent opening match against SoCal Uncensored. But OWE were also meant to be giving a highly-anticipated glimpse to the wrestling world of their up-and-coming Chinese stars.
“There were four of our talented Chinese wrestlers invited to Double or Nothing, but they couldn’t get visas because of the embassy,” OWE vice-president Michael Nee told the South China Morning Post. “We gave them everything we had – invitation letters, documents, we were all prepared but it didn’t happen. We tried twice.”
OWE is hoping to resolve the problem for AEW’s next pay-per-view, “All Out” at Chicago’s 11,000-seat Sears Centre Arena on August 31.