AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s second annual Forbidden Door crossover pay-per-view takes place this Sunday in Toronto and will once again feature title matches involving the AEW World Championship and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. While MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the AEW title wasn’t much of a surprise, fans were left scratching their heads when “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry stepped up to answer Sanada’s open challenge for an IWGP world title match. Perry is fresh off being involved in this year’s Double or Nothing main event but has otherwise been presented as a midcard wrestler with plenty of upside down the road.
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Even Sanada, who just won New Japan’s top prize back in April for the first time in his career, seemed taken aback by the booking decision. He told Tokyo Sports this week (translated from Japanese), “I have no knowledge of Jack Perry. It’s sad to see someone like that challenge the IWGP. Is an open challenge really that easy to decide? It’s the IWGP. I think it’s worth more than the AEW belt.”
Tony Khan was asked about the booking during a media conference call on Thursday and seemed confident that the former AEW World Tag Team Champion was up to the task — “He was the first pick in my mind. And when New Japan Pro wrestling asked me for a top star in AEW, I really believe in ‘Jungle Boy’ Jack Perr. From the very beginning of the company, he’s been somebody we believed in. And every year he’s gotten further along and built his connection with the crowd. And I think as a wrestler, he’s continued to develop and I thought it was a great match at Double or Nothing with the ‘Four Pillars’ fighting for the AEW world championship. Jungle Boy is somebody I really believe can continue rising to the top of pro wrestling and it could be a great champion for any company. So when I was sitting down with New Japan and discussing this event, Jungle Boy was somebody I put forward as one of our top stars who I thought would be a great matchup for Sanada. And if he wins, he would be a great champion for New Japan.”
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 & TBA vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki
- Adam Cole vs. Tom Lawlor
- Owen Hart Cup: Athena vs. Billie Starkz (Zero Hour)
