There have been speculations about CM Punk’s match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 for the past few days and those were finally wiped out during this week’s Dynamite. He’ll not be competing in the dream match against KENTA but rather his match will kick things off the 2023 edition of the Owen Hart Foundation Cup men’s edition.
The Owen Hart Cup 2023 edition is set to begin this Sunday, and the first match of the men’s edition will see CM Punk taking on former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima at Forbidden Door 2023. Alongside this spectacular upcoming match, the full men’s and women’s brackets were also announced on AEW Dynamite.
The other first-round matches in the cup will take place at the June 29 edition of AEW Collision in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dustin Rhodes has been put into a match against Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe will compete against Roderick Strong while Bullet Club Gold’s Juice Robinson will face Ricky Starks.
AEW Dynamite: Saraya Absent From TV Due To Unknown Reasons?
The winner of Punk vs. Kojima at Forbidden Door 2023 will face the winner of the Samoa Joe vs. Strong match. If Joe wins his respective match, Punk will likely face his former ROH rival Joe in a semi-final match. The match has already been teased in Punk’s return match at AEW Collision when he teamed with FTR to take on Joe and Bullet Club Gold.
One of the major matches for Forbidden Door 2023 had initially been rumored between KENTA and CM Punk but recent reports say that match was unable to come to fruition. AEW officials have discussed the match but there is no confirmation on why Punk vs. KENTA couldn’t be set up as an Owen Hart Cup match. KENTA was vocal about not caring for the match unless he was given a lot of money.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 PPV Match Card
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 pay-per-view will take place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 25th. As of this writing, matches for the upcoming cross-promotional event are as given below:
– AEW World Heavyweight Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
– AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Tony Storm (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
– Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup First-Round Match: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
– Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
– IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Will Ospreay
– IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Sanada (c) vs. Jungle Boy
– Sting, Darby Allin & TBA vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki
– Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. “Hangman” Adam Page, Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston, & Tomohiro Ishii
– AEW International Championship Match: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Zero Hour Match
– Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup First-Round Match: Athena vs. Billie Starkz
