10 HUGE AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Predictions You Need To Know

1. *RAMPAGE SPOILER* Surprise Match

Kazuchika Okada Bryan Danielson
AEW

(The following match was booked on a taped edition of Rampage set to air on Friday 23rd June. As of this writing, the show has not aired and if you don't want to know the results, click away now).

On the go-home edition of Dynamite, Adam Cole and MJF were forced into working together as part of the new Blind Eliminator format. A randomly drawn set of teams will compete to win a shot at FTR's gold, and the 30-minute men from last week were conveniently now going to be forced to try to get along. Neither man obviously wanted any of it, but the contrast between Cole's anger at working with MJF and the 'Salt Of Earth's rage at having to work at all was genuinely amusing.

A Rampage taping spoiler revealed that it might have already gone sour.

A Cole speech was interrupted by his makeshift partner, who revealed that he'd set up a Forbidden Door match against NJPW's Tom Lawlor. The 'Filthy' former MMA star and associate Royce Isaacs hit the ring and beat Cole down as MJF mocked from afar.

This stunt-casting feels like it'll be Cole's match to lose, and a contest against Pat McAfee in the far more unfavourable circumstances of pandemic-era NXT suggests that this will exceed expectations. Worryingly though, assuming that of this eleventh-hour curio might be the boldest prediction of all.

Winner - Adam Cole

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett