AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2022 is scheduled for June 26, 2022 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. It is a special crossover event between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.
The following are my predictions for the 2022 AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door PPV. Check back for Forbidden Door 2022 results and review coverage here when the time comes.
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| AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door 2022 Rundown |
Interim AEW World Championship Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley
CM Punk is out with an injury. The winner of this match will become interim champion. I would personally like to see Tanahashi win the title to help set up a match against CM Punk at All Out, if Punk's able to return by then. If he'll be out even longer, it makes more sense for Moxley to win the title and have a semi-proper run with it in the meantime, even though I would have rather seen someone else in that spot, just to spice things up.
PREDICTION: Jon Moxley wins.
Four-Way Match for IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Adam Cole vs. Hangman Adam Page vs. Kazuchika Okada
Much was left to the imagination with how AEW decided to build this. It was just "I'm not fighting you. Never mind. I am. Ha. Got ya!"
I would honestly rather see two singles matches of White/Cole and Page/Okada than a Four-Way. With that being said, these are still four of the best guys possible, so I can't complain much, right? This has a chance to really rock.
AEW All-Atlantic Championship 4-Way Match: Pac vs. Malakai Black vs. Miro vs. Tomohiro Ishii
I'm fully leaning toward Pac for this. It wouldn't make as much sense for someone from New Japan to win the belt, I don't think Black makes for a great champion with this title, and we've already seen Miro with the TNT Championship. If he wins it, we're retreading familiar ground. Pac, on the other hand, hasn't actually accomplished anything worthwhile in AEW. If he wins this, it helps boost his credibility back up to a level closer to when he first joined the company.
PREDICTION: Pac wins.
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris
Jericho and Sammy Guevara) and Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler
Yuta and Shota Umino
Uhh.....sure...? I can tell you this. Despite me not being a New Japan follower, this match is very indicative of how this card has not shaped up to be anywhere near the dream card I would have booked and that I'm sure most fans were looking forward to with the original announcement. We were hoping for "big name against big name" and "dream match between two guys who never crossed paths" and whatnot. This, instead, is just odd.
PREDICTION: Jericho Appreciation Society wins.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
This is going to be a fun match, but it sure comes out of nowhere, doesn't it?
AEW Women's World Championship Match: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
This feels so out of place. I know they're doing it to make sure there's at least one women's match on the card so they don't look sexist, but since there's no New Japan element to it, it just feels odd. And yes, I know New Japan has no women's division, so that would be impossible. But maybe get someone from Stardom? Or maybe even just someone from Japan in general? The match should be fine. I'm not complaining about that, for the record, even though the build to it hasn't exactly been any build, but more so just "Wouldn't you be interested in seeing these two against each other? Eh? Eh?"
Three-Way Winner Takes All Tag Team Match: ROH World Tag Team
Champions FTR vs. IWGP Tag Team Champions United Empire vs. Roppongi
Vice
Admittedly, this isn't the match I would have booked, but that's the running theme of this event. Ignoring the "what if" hypothetical scenarios and how it fails to live up to the hype, and just looking at this match in a bubble, I think it has potential to be fun, so I'm still interested in seeing it. I'm not super familiar with United Empire or Roppongi Vice (minus Trent), just like most of the New Japan folk, but FTR is always great, so at the very least, I know I can rely on them to hold down the fort and deliver.
[Buy-In] Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Max Caster and Gunn Club vs. Alex Coughlin, The DKC, Kevin Knight and Yuya Uemura
AEW loses this one, since Caster and The Gunn Club are more of a comedy act.
Eight-Man Tag Team Match: The Young Bucks and Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo) vs. Darby Allin, Sting, and Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi)
Flip a coin. This means nothing. I can't mark out over it, since I'm mostly unaware of the four guys from New Japan, but I'm hoping it'll be a fun segment.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
Zack Sabre Jr doesn't have a title on the line, and it makes more sense for this replacement of Bryan Danielson to have momentum on his side heading into Blood & Guts. I can fully see a scenario where Zack Sabre Jr wins, as he might have even been scheduled to beat Danielson, but even if not, they could look at it that he should only lose to BD. However, without knowing who his opponent is, it's nearly impossible to tell. As far as a guess goes, I'm thinking Johnny Gargano or Cesaro, leaning toward Cesaro.
This page will be altered on a regular basis to reflect changes to the show including any new matches added to the lineup, adjustments to the card, revised predictions and any other information about this event. Stay tuned for the latest updates!
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