All Elite Wrestling opened the Forbidden Door to New Japan Pro-Wrestling for a major crossover pay-per-view event.
Tony Khan’s major announcement has been hyped all week and the news was finally revealed on the April 20 episode of Dynamite, although it wasn’t Khan who ended up making the big announcement. Khan welcomed New Japan Pro-Wrestling President Takami Ohbari to the stage, but Adam Cole cut them off and said he would be the one making the announcement. Cole announced a co-promoted event called “Forbidden Door” that would take place at the United Center on June 26.
Moments later, Cole announced he would face off with Tomo Ishii on Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage, then he told Khan he had a special guest in the building and welcomed Jay White to the arena. White talked about how he sold out Madison Square Garden (for the co-promoted ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard event) on his own, but this was all about Undisputed Elite and Bullet Club because it’s still their era.
Tony Khan had some help from Adam Cole with his major announcement: #AEWxNJPW #ForbiddenDoorpic.twitter.com/iHMXIKgT1Z
— WrestleZone (@WRESTLEZONEcom) April 21, 2022
The full press release from AEW is below:
April 20, 2022 — Moments ago on AEW: Dynamite live on TBS, the hinges were fully ripped off the Forbidden Door, as it was announced that AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling will present their first ever joint pay-per-view special this summer. “AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door” will take place live on Sunday, June 26, at the United Center in Chicago, featuring marquee matchups between members of AEW and NJPW’s world-class rosters.
Tickets for the historic PPV event go on sale on Friday, May 6, at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT at AEWTix.com and Ticketmaster.com. Fans in the United States and Canada can watch the PPV via purchase on the Bleacher Report app or via their local Cable or Satellite provider. The program will be available with both English and Spanish commentary. The PPV will be available in international markets on FITE.tv. Fans in Japan can watch on iPPV on NJPWWorld.com with live Japanese commentary.
“As the world continues to reopen, I’m making sure the Forbidden Door follows suit and we can finally give fans the dream events they’ve always imagined,” said Tony Khan, CEO, GM and Head of Creative of AEW. “The United Center was home to one of AEW’s biggest events of all time, The First Dance, where CM Punk made his return to wrestling after a seven-year hiatus. This summer, fans of AEW and NJPW can expect the unexpected during this extraordinary, first-of-its-kind pay-per-view between our two incredible companies.”
“As we have done for more than 50 years, the power of pro-wrestling can energize people by fulfilling their dreams,” said Takami Ohbari, President of NJPW. “Now, it’s quite an important mission for us, the pro-wrestling industry as a whole. We are not only opening this door. We will show you NJPW’s genuine Strong-Style beyond the Forbidden door.”
This announcement furthers the opening of the Forbidden Door, coming just over a month after Tony Khan announced that he agreed to acquire the assets of Ring of Honor, and less than three weeks after he produced the ROH Supercard of Honor pay-per-view in Dallas, featuring a number of major title changes and ROH alumni appearances including Samoa Joe, The Young Bucks, Wheeler Yuta, Jay Lethal, Lee Moriarty, Matt Sydal, Sonjay Dutt and Mercedes Martinez.
The Forbidden Door has been used to describe the collaboration between pro wrestling promotions in recent months, but now it is the name of AEW’s newest pay-per-view event. Khan and AEW applied to trademark Forbidden Door in August 2021, and he recently spoke about how he appreciated how fans and promotions have used the phrase, but it was now trademarked and AEW would use it as they see fit.
Read More: AEW Dynamite Results (4/20/22)
