In just under two months, All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling will present the supershow that fans have been clamoring for since AEW launched three years ago.
AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door takes place at Chicago’s United Center on June 26th. The event will air live on PPV, the B/R app, and FITE. It’s expected to be a tough ticket when the event officially goes on sale to the public next week. The United Center is the largest arena in the United States, and there seems to be little doubt that Forbidden Door will sell out, likely within hours if not less than that.
Despite bad faith arguments from critics who claimed the announcement on AEW Dynamite of Forbidden Door wasn’t as big of a deal as advertised by Tony Khan, make no mistake about it: It absolutely was. NJPW essentially launched AEW, and this is the show that fans have wanted since the beginning. Unless WWE gets into cross-promotion, this is the biggest cross-promotional show possible.
Does this event appeal to the most casual fans? Probably not, but that’s not the point here. There’s something to be said about delivering for your paying customers, and with there being no doubt the show will sell out such a large building, debating whether or not the event is a big deal is foolish. It’s clearly going to be a massive success.
Looking ahead to Forbidden Door, which matches do we want to see? There’s been a lot of discussion going on around the wrestling world since the announcement, and there’s many, many matches that could be booked for the show that would set the AEW and NJPW fandoms on fire. Below are some matches that I would most like to see, but they’re not the only possible combinations that would get me pumped for the show.
AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door: Fantasy Booking The Card
Kazuchika Okada vs. CM Punk
There’s also been talk about Punk vs. Kenta in a battle of the GTS, and while I’d love to see that match too, Punk vs. Okada just feels a lot bigger and more fitting for a show like this. This of course has an interesting wrinkle in that how would it impact the finish for Double or Nothing?
We assume Punk is challenging Hangman Page for the title in Las Vegas; does he walk out champion and then have a champion vs. champion match with Okada? If so, how do you book that finish? I don’t have a good answer, but the match itself is my ultimate dream match for the show right now. Punk has been teasing it on social media as well. Chicago is Punk’s hometown, and this is the biggest match he can have at the event.
Golden Elite vs. Undisputed Elite
I’m hardly the first to propose this scenario, but it makes a ton of sense if Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi (both out of action currently) can return by the end of June. Plus, tag team wrestling is a great way to ease back into ring shape.
Omega and Ibushi reunite and and team with the Young Bucks (Golden Elite) to take on Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Jay White (Undisputed Elite) in what would be an amazing eight man tag. We have seen the heat building between the Bucks and Cole’s group for weeks now, and Kenny vs. Cole with that same heat has pretty clearly been the long term plan when he returns from injury. Again, entirely dependent on the health of Omega and Ibushi for this scenario to happen, but it would sure be something.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bryan Danielson
Two of the best wrestlers of the last 20 years facing off. Who says no? Bryan vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. is another match that has been thrown out there, and it would no doubt be a masterpiece. However, my thoughts mirror what I said about Punk/Kenta above — I’d lean in for the bigger star power matchups at this first joint show when it comes to the card.
Adam Page vs. Will Ospreay
These two have had some of the best runs in wrestling over the last couple of years. Should Page lose the title to Punk at Double or Nothing, a match here with one of the best wrestlers in the world, another former world champion, would be a great way to move on to something new for the time being.
Sammy Guevara vs. Shingo Takagi
Two elite level workers in their respective companies. Takagi has had some outstanding matches with high flyers before (Ospreay in particular). This one would undoubtedly be a highlight reel of a match. Takagi was many people’s wrestler of the year for 2021, and Sammy would have a showcase here for the TNT Championship to show what he can do.
Darby Allin vs Kenta
The hard-hitting style of Kenta matched up with the no-regard-for-his-own-body style of Darby? Sign me up.
FTR vs. Guerrillas of Destiny
As far as traditional tag team matches go for the card, this clearly makes the most sense. FTR has been the dominant tag team of late in AEW, and Guerrillas of Destiny have been carrying the torch for NJPW for years now. This seems like an easy choice.
Samoa Joe vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Yet again, the term “hard-hitting” comes to mind. I can’t think of a single wrestling fan I know who wouldn’t want to see this one. It just makes sense on paper.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley
Two multi-time world champions who have carried the torch for their respective companies in recent years. This is a match with serious star-power and crossover appeal. Plus, they’ve worked together before so there’s some familiarity there to rely on. They had a banger during the 2019 G1 Climax tournament. Naito could be out for revenge for that loss.
Andrade El Idolo vs. El Desperado
Andrade’s time in AEW just hasn’t clicked with me, but it’s hard to leave a guy with his talent off this card. Put him in there with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and see what happens. If Andrade doesn’t work out, I could see Swerve Strickland in this position.
Thunder Rosa, Jade Cargill and Britt Baker vs. Syuri, Saya Kamitani, and Utami Hayashishita
A match like this forces you to have enemies co-existing while also getting some of the biggest women’s stars from AEW and NJPW’s sister promotion, Stardom, on the card.
Lastly, I’d probably do some sort of tag team turmoil or battle royal match on the Buy-In to get some of the other big names in the companies on the show, such as: Keith Lee, Orange Cassidy, Jeff Cobb, Malakai Black, House of Torture, Hiromu Takahashi, Minoru Suzuki, Jeff Cobb, Eddie Kingston, Jurassic Express, and others.
Again, this is tough. There’s many directions this show could go, and most of them would be great. What are your own thoughts? Let me know in the comments section below or give me a shout on Twitter @ryandroste.
Additionally, you can check me out every week on the Top Rope Nation podcast, available on Apple – Spotify – YouTube. We discussed AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door on last week’s show.