AEW Dynamite: Tanahashi Joins The Acclaimed for Forbidden Door Match Against The Elite

The Elite have attempted to take over AEW Dynamite for several weeks now, and though they have seen pushback from Tony Khan, they are still booking themselves in big matches. That now includes Forbidden Door, as during tonight’s Dynamite The Elite issued a challenge to their more recent foes The Acclaimed. The Acclaimed threw in a big twist thoughAEW Dynamite: Tanahashi Joins The Acclaimed for Forbidden Door Match Against The Elite

, as Billy Gunn revealed that it would be Hiroshi Tanahashi joining Anthony Bowens and Max Caster in their match, and Tanahashi was excited to face his old enemy Kazuchika Okada at the pay-per-view. Tanahashi even gave himself a perfect nickname, calling himself the Scissor Ace, which is kind of brilliant.

The match will be a Trios Match, though there are no other stipulations attached to it at the moment. That could change before the pay-per-view, but if it does it will likely be revealed on AEW Collision. Okada wasn’t exactly thrilled when Tanahashi revealed he would be participating in the match, but he still kept a poker face for the most part when The Acclaimed made the big reveal on the video screen.

Acclaimed vs Elite

The Elite has been meddling with just about everything for the past few months, with The Young Bucks even attacking Tony Khan at one point alongside Okada and Jack Perry. Khan has since returned and placed an advocate for him when he’s not around in Christopher Daniels, but the Bucks still seem to be running most of the show when he’s not around. That includes booking themselves in a match at Forbidden Door, and their latest challenge went to The Acclaimed.

The Acclaimed have become an especially popular target of The Elite over the past weeks, as beyond things happening in the ring The EVPs have been turning off Caster’s microphone and sending them away when they have matches. The Acclaimed got some payback on The Elite though when they won the recent Eliminator Match, earning themselves a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championships.

Old Rivals

It was surprising to see Gunn step away from the match, but now it makes all the sense in the world, as Tanahashi and Okada have a long history as enemies. Okada dethroned Tanahashi as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion back in 2012, and they’ve feuded quite a bit in the years that followed with several unforgettable matches along the way. The last time they faced each other in the ring was during Okada’s final match in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where Okada was able to notch a win against Tanahashi. Now they will face each other once again, but they’ll have some help this time around.

AEW Forbidden Door Card:

• AEW World Championship Match: Swerve Strickland (C) vs. Will Ospreay
• AEW Women’s World Championship Match: “Timeless” Toni Storm (C) vs. Mina Shirakawa
• IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jon Moxley (C) vs. Tetsuya Naito
• Winner Takes All AEW TBS Championship and NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Match: Mercedes Mone (C) vs. Stephanie Vaquer
• AEW TNT Championship Ladder Match: Dante Martin vs. Jack Perry vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Lio Rush vs. Mark Briscoe vs. TBD
• Men’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi
• Trios Match: The Elite (The Young Bucks & Kazuchika Okada) vs. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) and Hiroshi Tanahashi
• Trios Match: The Learning Tree (Chris Jericho, Big Bill & TBD) vs. Samoa Joe, HOOK & Katsuyori Shibata
• MJF vs. Hechicero
• Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Are you excited for AEW Forbidden Door? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!