This past Friday night I had the chance to chat with OWE COO Michael Nee for the first time since the thunderous announcement from AEW’s press rally in Jacksonville, Fl. rocked the Chinese Pro Wrestling scene by announcing that the two fledgling brands would be working together. I connected with him early in his day in China briefly before he headed off to the HenDian venue for rehearsals. He told me about the venue being a film set city, and compared it to Universal Studios. He elaborated upon how much of the buildings there reproduced various classical eras of Chinese architecture. One of the great things about Michael Nee is that he’s always excited about OWE and what they are doing.
When I asked him about AEW he explained to me that they’re still working on the details of the working agreement and have yet to settle on exact terms for the deal between their two companies. This being said they are really pleased to be working with AEW and will be aggressive in working with All Elite. OWE are willing to help AEW in any way they can. He explained that they are willing to “transfer their kids” to AEW and hold joint matches anywhere. Any kind of working relationship status will be open to discussion. While details are yet to be set in stone he did advise me that he, along with OWE’s owner Huayang Fu and VP CIMA, will be joining a press conference and attending meetings in Las Vegas February 8th and 9th. We can expect more details then on the exact nature of how these brands will work together.
It is unquestionable that OWE’s roster have been developing quickly and the brand isn’t afraid to make changes to gimmicks on the fly, as numerous performers have metamorphosed heavily over the summer. However, the key to excelling as a roster will lie in their kids gaining experience working with more skilled performers. Traditionally the best way to do this has been by working abroad, when the talent pool in your region is either underdeveloped or doesn’t offer you what you seek. Over the course of 2018 OWE attempted to have many of its outstanding young roster get some international experience under their belts but struggled in many cases to obtain the appropriate visas.
With the relationship with AEW looking to bring OWE’s homegrown talent stateside yet again, these concerns about visas came to my mind again and I asked him about the subject. He explained to me that the biggest challenges the faced in getting their Chinese roster the appropriate visas in the past was centered on them not having all their proper documentation and requirements met. For many they didn’t have proper residential documents, or bank accounts with the required minimum balance present, to be able to get the visas approved. Over the year OWE has been working on ensuring all of their students have these issues sorted out to ensure that visas are no longer denied. It also certainly will not hurt that their partner stateside is now backed by a billionaire and will be viewed by visa offices as a more financially stable entity than other partner promotions before them. He says that their travel agent is confident they will be able to travel.
Partnering with AEW and its prestige Billionaire-backer is likely to greatly facilitate international travel for these lads to North America. But, OWE are not hedging all of their international performance bets on AEW. In fact, Mr. Nee revealed to me that at the end of March they will be visiting Taipei for a show, and will be in Osaka and Tokyo for shows between April 18th and the 20th. Furthermore, while no time has been set, he communicated that they are interested in running in Thailand as well.
This falls well in line with the ethos of OWE he expressed throughout our chat. They seek to increase the global connectivity of cultural arts through the best platform possible: pro wrestling. He spoke of how they’ve barely scratched the surface of the numerous styles of Chinese Kung-Fu and historical figures and subjects to draw upon for material and how the martial arts and cultures of other places, such as Thailand’s Muay Thai, are things they would also like to bring into the fold with OWE. I would not be surprised to see them try and bring in recruits from Thailand and India in the long run, to help expand this vision and provide more variety to their roster.
Between these subjects he explained to me that OWE has to pay for to broadcast their show on Chinese TV, which they recently started doing, and wondered if a platform like Twitch would be beneficial for his brand to get directly into. Our conversation turned, inevitably, towards the eventual expectations of having English video content as the company increases its English language social media presence. He said that, while he was very busy, it shouldn’t be too hard for him to put together English subtitles and he might see if some of the English speaking wrestling talent could do commentary. No promises or ETA on this subject, but a recognition that it shouldn’t be too challenging for them to put something together when the time comes.