This evening’s edition of AEW “Dynamite,” kicked off with a major bout that will take place at AEW x NJPW’s “Forbidden Door” pay-per-view.
After the night started off with a fast-paced trios match pitting Max Caster and The Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) against CM Punk, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler, a significant match was scheduled for AEW x NJPW “Forbidden Door.”
As soon as CM Punk said that he was aware that New Japan Pro Wrestling is going to be in the building tonight, he instructed them to deliver the most difficult challenge they could muster. At that point, Hiroshi Tanahashi emerged from behind the curtain and made it quite plain that he was the one that wanted Punk to participate in the pay-per-view event.
Fans may know Tanahashi from his stint in NJPW when he competed as one of the famous opponents of Kenny Omega. After defeating Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in 2019, The Ace successfully defended his G1 Climax championship, which he had won in 2018.
In what has been Omega’s last match in New Japan to this day, Tanahashi defeated the Cleaner at the Wrestle Kingdom event. This bout served as the Cleaner’s dethroning. In addition to his feud with the former AEW champion, Tanahashi is a former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight champion, a previous two-time Intercontinental champion, a former three-time United States titleholder, as well as a former three-time IWGP Tag Team champion. He has also won the G1 Climax three times.
In the recent post-event media scrum after AEW “Double or Nothing,” Punk mentioned Tanahashi as one of his top fantasy matchups for the show later in the month.
Punk added, “I think guys like Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Will Ospreay, and others like them are people I’m looking forward to getting into the ring with.” Punk also said. “In terms of AEW talent—I always think Bryan Danielson will be number one without a doubt…”
On the episode of AEW Dynamite that aired on April 20, the official announcement for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was made. On May 5, almost 11,000 tickets were sold in less than forty minutes during the pre-sale, and on May 6, all of the remaining tickets were purchased during the open sale and sold out as well.
The pay-per-view event titled “AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door” is planned to take place on June 26 from said United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
