The 2022 Forbidden Door is the first-time instance that AEW and NJPW have worked together to present a pay-per-view event. Following the success of the show, it appears that both the two top pro-wrestling promotions of the world are willing to make this an annual tradition, down the road.
It’s AEW President Tony Khan who is hoping that the Forbidden Door will become an annual event on their calendar. He recently discussed how the booking of this event is different, specifically the need of collaborating with NJPW booker Gedo.
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“Yeah, I’ve likened it to ‘Crimson Tide’ where Denzel [Washington] gets a missile key,” Khan told ComicBook.
Khan also informed that he’s been in touch with Gedo for over a year to culminate in Forbidden Door to set up the matches and other ideas leading to the show. Khan also noted how the partnership has “worked really well” thus far,
“It started with AEW wrestlers going there, and I had some thoughts and ideas about what they should or shouldn’t be doing.”
“So it is different when we’re working together like this and it’s been a great collaboration for a long time now with AEW and New Japan, and I like working with Gedo.”
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2022 Forbidden Door was planned for over the course of a year
The partnership between AEW and NJPW to set up Forbidden Door first started in the early phase of 2021 when the top AEW Superstar Jon Moxley appeared on an episode of NJPW Strong to answer a challenge for a title match from Kenta. Moxley was also the IWGP United States Championship at the time.
That eventually led to a history-making moment in history, before the 2022 Forbidden Door when Kenta became the first NJPW wrestler to appear on AEW programming to attack Moxley. This led to a confrontation and a tag team falls count anywhere, anything goes match on AEW Dynamite featuring Kenta/Kenny Omega going up against Jon Moxley/Lance Archer. Moxley then also successfully defended the IWGP United States Championship against Kenta on NJPW Strong.
Moxley was also the one to face NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Championship in the main event of the inaugural Forbidden Door pay-per-view that took place on Sunday, June 26 at Chicago’s United Center.
