AEW's Forbidden Door has the chance to make unique professional wrestling history
When AEW launched in 2019, fans were naturally intrigued by the possibilities of the new promotion. With the names and the massive amount of money involved, it was kind of hard not to get excited.
As the owner of AEW, Tony Khan promised that his company would reach out to other promotions in an effort to bring some unity to the industry.
Of course, as cynical as the professional wrestling community can be at times, many observers of the business scoffed. They viewed it all as just a lot of lip service and that All Elite Wrestling would conduct business as usual. Or, that no one would want to work with the upstart promotion anyway. After all, it was one thing to reach out, it was another thing altogether to come up with some kind of mutually beneficial relationship.
Still, there was a certain segment of the fan base that held out hope. Former New Japan stars Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and (at the time) Cody Rhodes weren't just some of AEW's top stars.
They were also international performers who had a lot of ties to promotions all over the world. That would include the biggest crown jewel of them all: New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Khan has already done business with several other entities like AAA in Mexico and IMPACT Wrestling, but none of those partnerships represented the caliber or prestige that an AEW-NJPW working agreement would. As of now, The Ace of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahasi, is already set to face CM Punk at the Forbidden Door event on June 26th in Punk's hometown of Chicago.
Best in the World vs Ace of the Universe?
Hiroshi Tanahashi answers CM Punk's Forbidden Door challenge:
njpw1972.com/122473
#AEWxNJPW https://t.co/y14YV3YQnQ
That match-up alone should make Forbidden Door one of the most interesting cards of the year, but it won't stop there. If all goes well, we may also see two of the greatest of their generation collide.
While AEW's Bryan Danielson vs. IWGP World Champion Kazuchika Okada hasn't been officially announced yet, it would certainly capture the audience's imagination
These two performers can both lay claim to calling themselves the best match wrestler in the world today. At Forbidden Door, they have the opportunity to prove their point.
Okada is a wild card here. You can basically put The Rainmaker in the ring with anyone and get a quality showdown. So there's also a chance the card may be spread out, with Okada defending his title against someone like Hangman Adam Page or his old NJPW rival, Kenny Omega. The Cleaner has been out with injuries, but he should be on the mend right now and possibly ready for action by the end of June.
“I had seen a lineup. Which was interesting because it was Punk & Tanahashi for the AEW title,
& the other match was Okada & Adam Page which actually could be a hell of a match for the IWGP title”
- Dave Meltzer on Forbidden Door
(via WOR) https://t.co/9oMRHscpAL
That doesn't even factor in The Bullet Club, Will Ospreay and several other international names that are likely to be a part of Forbidden Door.
The beauty of this entire card is that almost every possible match-up between the stars of the two organizations will be unique and therefore, give us more reasons to watch.
We have seen historic events like this in the past. When AAA When Worlds Collide or the Antonio Inoki-led World Wrestling Peace Festival. The two events were legendary with the grand scope of their reach all over the world. Forbidden Door should be no different, albeit in modern times.
For many years, that door was slammed shut, and the concept of 'dream matches' was completely out of the question. Every major wrestling company was seemingly an island unto themselves.
But AEW and Tony Khan have come along to hopefully change that. And if Forbidden Door goes down in the history books as one of the greatest shows of all-time... Wrestling fans may believe that it's okay to dream again.