AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door 2022: 10 Nightmares That Could Happen
Dream AEW/NJPW crossover, or...nightmare-inducing evening of bloated bullsh*t?
Cancel all of your plans on Sunday night and load up on enough snacks to feed the field of a Casino Battle Royale, because AEW don't do short pay-per-views. Forbidden Door might be an exhibition-style crossover co-promotion with New Japan, but it'll still be a lengthy night.
Nobody's suggesting that value for money is a negative by any means. However, there's a difference between giving fans matches they want to see and padding the show length out just for the sake of it. That's one of the nightmare scenarios that could come true this weekend.
Others? Well, others are enough to make certain fans start tearing their hair out.
This is a deceptively delicate night for Tony Khan. Some of his biggest signings are in the firing line at Forbidden Door, and it's gonna be vital those names are booked properly. It's also unavoidable, but AEW is about to end up with yet another interim champion in its midst - handling that carefully should be a priority.
Here are the nightmares giving folks acid reflux and sleepless nights before what should be a straightforward event. Should...
10. Unnecessary Matches Get Added
Let's kick off that with the worry examined in that intro.
At press time, AEW has officially confirmed just six bouts for Forbidden Door. There's an IWGP Heavyweight Title scrap on there too, but (at least at time of writing) Jay White's opponent hasn't been announced. Adding that is totally fine. Adding others...isn't.
The pay-per-view doesn't need a random TNT Title defence for Scorpio Sky, and the same could be said for Jade Cargill's TBS belt. AEW should resist the urge to book Jade vs. Kris Statlander, for example - that's an obvious precursor to Cargill vs. Athena, but it should happen on TV.
There's another episode of Dynamite and one more Rampage to go before All Elite hits Chicago for Forbidden Door. Can Tony Khan adopt a 'less is more' approach and prevent this from turning into WWE's latest overstuffed "premium live event". That remains to be seen, because six-seven matches might not be enough for him.