AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door marks the first official crossover event between the American and Japanese pro wrestling promotions. And while the show is already promising a few dream matches, it has also run into a bit of a snag due to business agreements among other promotions. As first speculated by LuchaBlog, Andrade El Idolo was originally booked for the June 26 match but later pulled due to his contract status with Lucha Libre AAA as New Japan is in a partnership with AAA’s rival promotion, CMLL. Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline pointed out that both Penta Oscuro and Rey Fenix won’t be allowed on the show as well.
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El Idolo outright confirmed he wasn’t allowed on the show by tweeting on Monday, “I can’t work with NJPW, thanks CMLL and AAA.” The former NXT Champion previously worked in CMLL from 2007-15, but arrived in AAA in May 2021. He has since wrestled only two matches for the promotion.
As for Forbidden Door, only two matches have been confirmed so far — Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World Championship and a four-way to crown the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Championship. Other matches like FTR vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan vs. Roppongi Vice, Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Hangman Page vs. Jay White have been teased as well.
“It’s a great relationship, I really enjoy working with New Japan. It’s changed a lot, because when AEW first started off I think they were pretty pissed off with me. As wrestling went on I think they saw that I really wasn’t trying to stop them from doing anything and I actually made a lot of friendly gestures along the way,” Tony Khan said in a media conference call last November regarding AEW’s growing relationship with New Japan.
“I think they saw this as a good relationship and I have a good reputation for being an honest person,” he continued. “So even though I kind of came out of left field and was a new player in the game, I think I raised their antennas early and made them pretty nervous. And then (as) I built up more of a reputation in this sport I think they wanted to work with me. And so now I talk to them on a regular basis and put matches together.”
