There is tons to talk about on tonight’s AEW Dynamite review on Speak Now Pro Wrestling!
We had a Casino Battle Royale to determine Moxley’s opponent. In additon AEW announced a brand new championship belt, Will Ospreay appeared on the show, David Finlay wrestled Hangman Page, who then expressed interest in challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Wardlow wants the TNT Championship, matches for next week’s Road Rager, and more!
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Denise will return on Friday to chat WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage!
AEW has announced a four-way match that will determine its first-ever All Atlantic Champion.
On tonight’s Dynamite, it was announced that a four-way match to crown the first All Atlantic Champion will take place at Forbidden Door on June 26 in Chicago. The first qualifying match took place tonight, with PAC defeating Buddy Matthews in the first qualifier.
Other qualifying matches will have Ethan Page facing Miro, Penta Oscuro facing Malakai Black, and a fourth qualifying match will feature participants from New Japan Pro Wrestling. The winners of these matches will qualify for the All-Atlantic Championship match at Forbidden Door.
NJPW on Twitter wrote that more information regarding NJPW’s participation will be determined at a later date.
Stay tuned at a later date for an announcement about who from NJPW will be competing for AEW's brand new championship!#AEWxNJPWhttps://t.co/qD4dZnRBlV
Since its formation in 2019, AEW has had five championships: The AEW World Championship, the AEW Tag Team Championship, the AEW Women’s Championship, and the TBS and TNT Championships. With Tony Khan’s purchase of Ring of Honor earlier this year, ROH’s titles have also been defended on AEW programming.
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio talking all the latest news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter including Dave’s story on the MJF situation, Double or Nothing PPV buys and fallout, and Dynamite ratings.
We also go over the Best of the Super Juniors, NXT In Your House, and WWE’s Hell in a Cell.
We recorded the intro to the show a few hours after we originally recorded to update the latest with CM Punk and the AEW world title.
NJPW star Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared on AEW Dynamite, answering a challenge from CM Punk.
The opening to tonight’s Dynamite had FTR and Punk defeat Max Caster and The Gunn Club. After the match, Punk talked about the Forbidden Door, saying he knew someone was in the back and was ready to challenge him. He called for that person to come out, eventually revealing themselves to be Tanahashi. Punk posed with the championship as Tanahashi pointed at Punk, the two having a staredown.
Punk successfully won the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing back on Sunday, defeating Hangman Page.
FTR has also had a run-in with NJPW stars recently. On last week’s Dynamite, they were defending the ROH World Tag Team titles when The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb came out and attacked both FTR and their challengers, Roppongi Vice.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door will take place at the United Center in Chicago on June 26.
Co-host Fumi Saito gives his thoughts on the Kota Ibushi-NJPW situation and also discusses his new book on the relationship and parallels between Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba.
Fumi also has the line-up for the next Hana Kimura Memorial Show as he and KAIRI will be doing commentary.
Plus, we talk about the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, the popularity of AEW in Japan, and more.
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio talking all the latest news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter including his story on the WWE business call.
We talk about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol fight, recap UFC 274, Daniel Cormier going into the UFC Hall of Fame, and the UFC 276 card.
We also talk about AEW ratings, who the jokers might be in the Owen Cup, trios belts, Forbidden Door ticket sales, Backlash, Under Siege, and Tammy Sytch.
Click below to listen.
Timestamps:
2:40: Canelo loses
9:35: UFC 274 recap
34:24: WWE financials
51:35: Ratings
55:28: AEW Rampage thoughts
1:03:10: AEW trios titles being made
1:08:01: AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door sells out
1:11:27: WWE WrestleMania Backlash preview
1:15:08: Impact Under Siege quick notes, Tammy Sytch arrested
Following Thursday’s ticket pre-sale, AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view is on the verge of an official sellout.
The Forbidden Door tickets that were made available in the pre-sale sold out in less than 40 minutes on Thursday. More than 11,000 tickets were sold, with a limited amount of tickets being held back for Friday’s general public on-sale.
Tony Khan tweeted: “Thank you amazing wrestling fans who purchased tickets to @AEW x @njpwworld #ForbiddenDoor ppv! We sold over 11,000 tickets today, with a small allotment still held back for the general sale tomorrow!”
Dave Meltzer notes that more than 2,000 new tickets will be put on sale in tomorrow’s general public on-sale. The on-sale begins at 10 a.m. Central time.
There will be more than 2000 new tickets put on sale tomorrow for Forbidden Door. They will go instantly.
Forbidden Door is taking place at the United Center in Chicago on Sunday, June 26. It will be the first time that AEW and NJPW have ever co-promoted a show together.
“It would have been unfathomable to collaborate on a pay-per-view when AEW first started, but a lot has changed since then in the world of wrestling,” Khan told Sports Illustrated about the relationship between AEW and NJPW . “I believe we’ve earned their trust. We started working closely together last year. The more we’ve collaborated, the better the relationship has become and the more trust we’ve built. It’s culminating at this huge event on pay-per-view with the stars of AEW and the stars of New Japan Pro-Wrestling colliding at Forbidden Door.”
There have yet to be any matches made official for the PPV.
There are no plans for Stardom talent to appear on the Forbidden Door pay-per-view but the company does hope to work with AEW in the future.
It was noted by our own Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while Stardom has its own PPV on the same day as Forbidden Door, they would like to take part in future shows.
“There is nothing at all going on regarding that show regarding Stardom, which has a PPV scheduled the same day,” Meltzer wrote.
“We do know that Stardom, which is owned by Bushiroad, the same company that owns New Japan, would be interested in being part of future shows and working with AEW. Stardom would also be interested in booking AEW talent for a 12/30 show at Sumo Hall, although neither side has talked as best we can tell,” he continued.
Stardom is hoping to pack their show on Friday, December 30 with non-Japanese fans, with the belief being that many will be flying into the country to attend Wrestle Kingdom the following week.
NJPW president Takami Ohbari has expressed interest in potentially bringing a Forbidden Door follow-up event to Japan.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Ohbari stated that a show featuring AEW and NJPW wrestlers hosted in Japan could be the “next step” following the June 26 pay-per-view from Chicago.
“If Japanese fans are invested in this event and the demand is there, then there will absolutely be the impetus for us to take the next step of holding an event in Japan,” he said.
Ohbari wouldn’t speculate on what comes next for the relationship between his company and AEW after Forbidden Door, however.
“NJPW and AEW will open the ‘Forbidden Door’ together this June, but what lies on the other side is something we will all have to wait to find out,” Ohbari continued. “One guarantee: I always say that NJPW’s wrestlers carry the pride and the fight of wild lions. Whomever they fight against, or whomever they even team with, they will carry a fighting spirit that is unmatched and unbeatable.”
On a new Big Audio Nightmare, I am joined by both Mike Sempervive and Jeremy Diemer in separate segments talking all the big happenings in Japanese wrestling this week.
Jeremy and I kick things off with an in-depth report on our live front row experience at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Windy City Riot in suburban Chicago last weekend.
After that, Mike tags in to join me for immediate thoughts on the announcement of the NJPW x AEW Forbidden Door pay-per-view coming to the United Center on June 26th, plus the latest in news from Japan including NJPW Wrestling Dontaku and the Stardom Cinderella tournament finals.
All this and much more on the original alternate: The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare!
Join Denise Salcedo on the April 20th edition of Speak Now Pro Wrestling in which she covers AEW Dynamite! This episode includes a coffin match, CM Punk vs Dustin Rhodes and an announcement from Tony Khan regarding AEW and NJPW partnership! This is a fun and lively show perfect for all fans of AEW!
A joint AEW-NJPW pay-per-view is set for Sunday, June 26 at the United Center in Chicago.
The announcement of AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door was made during tonight’s AEW Dynamite episode after being hyped for the past week on AEW programming.
AEW president Tony Khan and NJPW president Takami Ohbari appeared together on Dynamite to announce the PPV on Dynamite, but were interrupted by AEW’s Adam Cole and NJPW’s Jay White. Cole and White delivered the details of the event, with Cole adding that he will face Tomohiro Ishii on this week’s AEW Rampage.
No talent or match announcements have been made for Forbidden Door, but Khan told Sports Illustrated that the PPV will feature matches with AEW talent facing off against NJPW talent.
Tickets for the show ill go on sale Friday, May 6 at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The event will air on traditional pay-per-view and on the Bleacher Report app in the United States, and on FITE TV for international customers.
The event is set to take place during what is typically a lull in NJPW’s schedule, between Dominion on June 12 and the G1 Climax tournament which typically takes place later in the summer. The June 26 date means that top NJPW talent like Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito will likely be available to work the show.
Okada, Tanahashi and Naito did not work last week’s NJPW event in Chicago. Tanahashi is advertised for NJPW dates in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia next month, while Okada is advertised only for Washington.
AEW and NJPW’s relationship got off to a rocky start under previous NJPW president Harold Meij after The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, and Cody Rhodes announced AEW’s founding in an episode of Being The Elite shot in front of the Tokyo Dome. After Meij’s departure, the relationship between the companies thawed. Numerous NJPW talents including Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Yuji Nagata, KENTA, Satoshi Kojima, and Rocky Romero have since wrestled on AEW programming.
“We started working closely together last year,” Khan told Sports Illustrated. “The more we’ve collaborated, the better the relationship has become and the more trust we’ve built.
