Read below for the latest Forbidden Door card updates following the June 17th episode of Rampage.
Forbidden Door is the upcoming co-promoted supershow between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The show will take place on June 26, 2022, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. One of the biggest joint wrestling shows the industry has seen since the NJPW/Ring of Honor G1 Supercard, Forbidden Door is shaping up to be a fantastic display of the best these two companies have to offer. The card is still being built as each week, more stars from NJPW are showing up on Dynamite and Rampage, staking their claim to a spot on the show. Following this past Friday night’s Rampage, here is the updated card for the upcoming supershow, featuring match announcements made from last week’s shows.
Forbidden Door Updated Card as of 6/17/22
- Pac vs Miro vs TBD vs TBD in a four-way match for the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Championship. Pac and Miro advanced through their respective sections of the draw with two matches remaining to determine the remaining two contenders. Malakai Black is set to wrestle Penta Oscuro on an upcoming episode of AEW TV while NJPW has announced their qualifying matches will take place on the New Japan Road tour at Korakuen Hall on June 20th. The matches will see the winner of Tomoaki Honma vs Clark Connors face the winner of Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Tomohiro Ishii. The All-Atlantic Champion will be crowned in a finals match at Forbidden Door.
- Will Ospreay vs Orange Cassidy for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. Everyone was musing over just who Will Ospreay’s dream opponent for his newly won IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship could be. But unbeknownst to anyone, Ospreay’s surprise opponent was somewhat right in front of our faces the entire time. The United Empire had made their introduction in AEW by targeting FTR and Roppongi Vice. So who better to step in and even the playing field than one of the Best Friends. Orange Cassidy emerged on Friday night’s Rampage to aid Roppongi Vice but more so, to challenge Ospreay for the championship. While not the dream match many had likely been hoping for, this one should still be one to watch.
- Thunder Rosa vs Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship. With NJPW a male-only promotion, there are bound to be a few matches on this card that aren’t co-branded. So far, this is the only such match booked but we should anticipate another women’s match being added. Thunder Rosa’s title reign has thus far really lacked that marquee victory but facing and defeating Toni Storm could be just the win she needs. Storm has been on a tear since arriving in AEW, having lost just once to Britt Baker, D.M.D. Should Storm win the title here, the rest of the AEW Women’s Division will definitely be put on notice.
- Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Championship. An unfortunate injury to CM Punk shook up the Forbidden Door card in a big way as not only did it potentially impact a Punk dream match but it also left AEW without a world champ heading into the big event. But as the promotion has done so often in the past, they turned to a tournament. Jon Moxley, by nature of his ranking, earned a spot in the match, where he faced the winner of the tournament, Kyle O’Reilly. The two put on a great show and in the end, Moxley emerged victorious to face the winner of another qualifying match taking place in Japan. Hiroshi Tanahashi won that one and another dream match was made as Moxley will finally get his shot against Japan’s ace. The two had a confrontation that was interrupted by Jericho, and chaos ensued. That’s when Chris Jericho‘s friends and Moxley’s friends fought each other to set up yet another match on the Forbidden Door card.
- Shota Umino, Wheeler Yuta, and Eddie Kingston vs The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara) and Minoru Suzuki in a six-man tag match. Chris Jericho always has something up his sleeve and on Wednesday night’s Dynamite, he proved just how resourceful he could be. When the Jericho Appreciation Society needed a helping hand, Jericho proved that there is no such thing as burned bridges. Now, Jericho has his former Le Sex Gods partner back in the fold as Sammy Guevara showed his allegiance to JAS. But more importantly, Jericho called in a favor to another old friend as he’ll have the aid of Minoru Suzuki in this hard-hitting tag encounter. But Jericho isn’t the only one who can call in a favor. Aiding Eddie Kingston in his war against JAS will be two friends of Jon Moxley, who is a little busy and can’t help his buddy himself. Mox sent in the reinforcements as his Blackpool Combat Club partner Wheeler Yuta and the young lion Mox took under his wing Shota Umino, will be on hand to help Kingston. Get ready for a knockdown, drag-out brawl that some might call car crash TV.
- FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs United Empire (Great O-Khan and Jeff Cobb) vs Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta) in a winner take all match for the ROH and IWGP Tag Team Championships. AEW set up another major match last week as one of the storylines from the Forbidden Door build will finally be resolved. Roppongi Vice wants their fair shot at the tag titles and FTR is willing to give it to them. There is only one problem. United Empire has been causing trouble for these two feuding frenemies for several weeks now. While Orange Cassidy is stepping up on behalf of his best friends to fight Ospreay, Jeff Cobb and Great O-Khan have stepped in to represent United Empire in a do-or-die threeway tag. Everything is on the line as FTR is putting their ROH tag belts up against the Empire’s IWGP tag belts. This will surely be a showdown that could steal the show as all three teams are hungry and in pursuit of the golds.
Potential Matches
Hangman Page vs Kazuchika Okada. Keep an eye on this one. Hangman Page has been calling out Kazuchika Okada almost since the day Forbidden Door was first announced. But as of now, neither is on the card. There is one more Dynamite and one more Rampage before Forbidden Door. Don’t be surprised if the go-home show for this PPV features a surprise appearance from the Rainmaker to set up a massive clash between either Page, Adam Cole, or possibly both.
Jay White vs ??? for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. As Page and Cole were fighting their verbal war of words over a possible title match and more to continue their rivalry, a surprise guest interjected himself in the form of the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Jay White blindsided Page, taking down the former AEW champion before dismissing Cole in a move that shocked the former Bullet Club member. That’s when White made it known that Okada would not be at Forbidden Door (don’t necessarily believe that as gospel) and that he was calling the shots. White said neither Page nor Cole deserved a shot at his title, which begs the question, who does? Who does Switchblade deem worthy of a shot at the prestigious championship? We’ve got one more week of shows to find out. One thing we do know is that AEW certainly has no shortage of viable candidates.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night. You can rewatch all 2021 NJPW events and plenty more tremendous wrestling content from New Japan Pro-Wrestling on NJPWWorld.com; The King of Sports Streaming. Make sure to catch Forbidden Door on Sunday, June 26th, and stay tuned to LWOPW for Forbidden Door card updates.
