10 Awesome Ideas That Were Cut From AEW
1. About Half Of The Forbidden Door Card
While "cut" suggests an active decision, much of this was enforced.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was a sensational, euphoric over-delivery of a card, but that doesn't mean the build was good. Two things can be correct at the same time.
AEW booked the show via contrived alliances comprised of upcoming opponents, like FTR and Roppongi Vice and Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Come to think of it, Thunderstorm and Serena Deeb and Mercedes Martinez are further examples of the upcoming-opponents-tag-together device, which is bad enough to do once.
CM Punk Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi didn't end up happening because Punk suffered a leg injury. Bryan Danielson Vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. was also scrapped because Danielson suffered what he implied was a concussion. The originally scheduled Bullet Club Vs. Dudes With Attitudes eight-man became a trios match when Hiromu Takahashi presented with a fever and thus couldn't make the flight over. Andrade claims he was scheduled to work Will Ospreay, but that was squashed because NJPW didn't want to upset partner CMLL by booking wrestlers contracted to (or in some way associated with) their competitor AAA. Tomohiro Ishii also suffered a knee injury. Five matches on a nine-match main card were affected, which is quite staggering.
While the build was still heavily Americanised, and thus barely felt like a co-promoted show, Tony Khan should be excused to an extent; a plague of injuries and political compromises converged to knacker the build. The card was still incredible, which is of some reassurance on those weeks in which Dynamite isn't quite Elite.
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