The recent string of AEW and NJPW injuries forced Tony Khan and company to make many major changes to the Forbidden Door PPV. This included the main event of the show which featured Jon Moxley instead of CM Punk.
Dave Meltzer talked about the PPV event on Wrestling Observer Radio. He revealed that the Hardcore star was originally expected to be on the opposite end of the card.
The original idea for Jon Moxley was for him to be part of the six-man tag team match that opened the show. The bout saw Shota Umino, Wheeler Yuta, and Eddie Kingston going up against Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki.
The interim AEW world champion would have joined Shota Umino who has been his protege. Though it’s unknown whether he would have replaced anyone from Yuta and Kingston, or they planned on adding a fourth contestant to Jericho’s team instead.
CM Punk won the AEW World Heavyweight Championship from Hangman Page at Double or Nothing in May. However, he had to step away from the company only days later after suffering a broken foot.
Jon Moxley ended up replacing him in the match against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door. Mox won this bout to become the interim AEW World Champion.
