AEW Forbidden Door 2023 Match Canceled Due to Illness

By Connor Casey

AEW Forbidden Door 2023 is now down a match. Tony Khan took to Twitter hours before the show and announced Adam Cole vs. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor had been scrapped from the card due to Cole being unable to compete due to illness. Cole suffered a severe concussion at last year's Forbidden Door during a four-way match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and was only able to return to action back in March. He quickly pivoted into a program with Chris Jericho that led to consecutive victories, then turned his attention to MJF's AEW World Championship. He recently took the champ to a 30-minute time-limit draw and Max has been trying to avoid a rematch ever since. 

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The two were recently paired up in a random drawing for an upcoming tournament for a shot at FTR's AEW World Tag Team Championships. Cole then baited Friedman into defending his title at Forbidden Door, while Friedman returned the favor by accepting a match on Cole's behalf against Lawlor.

What's wild is as time has gone on I feel better and better. I can train more, prepare more, be around the right people. As far as feeling ready, it's crazy. Because being gone for nine months, I don't know if I'll ever feel like, 'All right, I'm ready.' I'm scared. It's been nine months since I've been in the ring. But physically, mentally, emotionally, I am ready to go. The doctors agree. I can't wait, I can't believe it's almost here," Cole told ComicBook hours before his return match in March. Stay tuned for ore details on his status as they become available!

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Card 

  • IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
  • AEW World Championship: MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Sanada vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daniel Garcia
  • Owen Hart Cup: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • AEW Women's World Championship: Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale 
  • Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Konosukta Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. The Elite (Hangman Page & The Young Bucks), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Sting, Darby Allin & Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki
  • Owen Hart Cup: Athena vs. Billie Starkz (Zero Hour)
  • United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, TJP) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi) (Zero Hour)
  • Stu Grayson vs. El Phantaso (Zero Hour)
  • Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun) vs. Roppongi Vice & El Desperado (Zero Hour)

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