The Forbidden Door: Three Matches to Make For the AEW/NJPW Super Show

For three years the Forbidden Door between the world’s wrestling promotions has been open just a crack in Jacksonville, Florida, with athletes from New Japan, Tokyo Joshi Pro, GCW, Lucha Libre AAA, DDT and Impact Wrestling sneaking in here and there to compete in the All Elite Wrestling ring. It’s both introduced the wider world to then unsung talents like Maki Itoh and Takeshita and featured the national television debuts of iconic legends like Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii.

For newer fans used to the exclusive nature of WWE’s wrestling universe, it’s been an eye-opening cultural exchange, creating a number of truly memorable and surreal moments. The wrestling world is truly vast.

In two weeks AEW will prop the door open wide (time will tell if it will be knocked right off its hinges) to allow New Japan’s best to pour through en masse for a pay-per-view supercard that has already sold out Chicago’s United Center. Tickets were sold mostly sight unseen. Three weeks out, not a single bout has been announced except an AEW title match between one representative from both companies. That means there is still time to influence the decision-makers—so I’m going to take my shot!

1. “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Title match): Okada is the flagship New Japan wrestler for a reason. He’s tall, handsome and gifted, the kind of wrestler who is always in the right place to make his opponent look good without making it real obvious that’s what he’s doing. That may sound simple, but it’s a real art, one even highly regarded wrestlers sometimes never master.

Keeping up with Okada is no small task. Most men aren’t up for it or, if they are game, don’t have the ability, stamina or toughness to work on his level. When he was wrestling in New Japan, Adam Page only got the chance a single time. Frankly, the two were operating at different levels four years ago and the young Hangman wasn’t considered on Okada’s level. Today, with an AEW title reign under his belt and victories over the likes of Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson, Page is better equipped to battle Okada on equal terms.

Book it Tony!

2. Toru Yano vs. Eddie Kingston: So many people make the error of fantasy booking a great comedy wrestler with another comedy act.

Rookie mistake.

Comedy wrestlers like Yano are at their hilarious best when matched against an opposite type. Nothing is funnier than the likes of Yano squaring up with an ultra-serious act like Jon Moxley, a match that was a highlight of the latter’s G-1 Climax run a couple of years ago.

With Moxley likely otherwise occupied on the night, who better to fill the role of “angry and violent American” than Eddie Kingston? Sure, you could run back Kingston versus Ishii from the fantastic New Japan show in DC this spring. But wouldn’t it be more fun to hear Kingston cut a scathing promo on Yano?

Forget Ishii—this would be a real battle of wills. Would Yano be forced to work hard, if only to save his own skin? Or would Kingston actually smile in public? That’s a question I’d like to see answered.

3. Bryan Danielson vs. Zach Sabre Jr: “Dream match” is a concept that is thrown around pretty liberally these days, often applied to fairly random matchups that even the participants had likely never even thought about before they were announced.

But ZSJ versus the American Dragon? That’s a match people have run in their heads millions of times, the greatest technical wrestlers of two distinct eras pitting their very different styles against each other in a match almost guaranteed to be interesting at the very least.

In 2016, Dave Meltzer renamed the year-end “Best Technical Wrestler” award the “Bryan Danielson Award” after the star retired for the first time, honoring his nine consecutive victories in the category. Sabre was then in the middle of a seven year run of his own, only to see the old man take back his throne after just half a year of AEW work in 2021.

What’s interesting about this bout is just how different the two men’s styles are considering they share a common label. While Sabre’s technique is performative in nature, Danielson’s has violence at its core. This difference makes a match between seemingly similar wrestlers a contrasting battle of ideologies.

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I have no idea, of course, what AEW and NJPW intend to do. The New Japan style of booking would dictate a card made up mostly of multiple man tag bouts, with only a couple of featured singles matches. That would be unusual for a major event in America.

Likewise, AEW’s fixation on tag team matches doesn’t fit well with New Japan’s standard format, which hasn’t heavily featured tag team action since dinosaurs like the Steiners and Hell Raisers roamed their rings. That’s bad news for acts like the Young Bucks, Lucha Bros and FTR, who have no real equivalents on the New Japan side.

Since this card is in Chicago, and being sold primarily to an American audience, I hope the visitors walking through the door yield to our sensibilities and agree to a card filled with bangers like the ones outlined above. I’m sort of giddy just considering it—just seeing who steps through the Forbidden Door is almost as exciting as what happens once they arrive.