AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II takes place later tonight at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In a recent interview with Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling, AEW President Tony Khan discussed the working relationship between AEW and NJPW, the build to Forbidden Door 2023, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On setting up this year’s Forbidden Door: “One of the cool things about the build to Forbidden Door is we have a lot of our own great stars in AEW who are great promos who can build up these matches in interesting ways. Without a lot of history between them or without being in the same place at the same time, I think the idea of fighting to prove who’s the greatest between Okada and Bryan Danielson is very compelling, and it’s one of the reasons why even without a traditional story of them cutting promos on television face-to-face, it’s been very compelling to hear what is being said.”
On last year’s show having to change due to injuries: “Last year we really wanted to have Bryan Danielson on Forbidden Door,” Khan added. “It was a huge thing when we had to make adjustments to the card, and I was so proud as a company and a partner that we came out of last year’s Forbidden Door with the best event of the entire year.”
On the AEW and NJPW relationship: “Our strongest promotional partnership is New Japan Pro Wrestling. The partnership is year-round, it’s outside of Forbidden Door. We team up on video, we have AEW footage available on New Japan World, and New Japan makes their stars available to us in NJPW, and to Ring of Honor, which is great to bring that partnership with New Japan and Ring of Honor back because they have so much history together. I was glad to bring that partnership back after I acquired that promotion.”
