5 NJPW Wrestlers Who Must Open The Forbidden Door To AEW Next

Ideal match: vs. Jon Moxley

Technically speaking, Hiroshi Tanahashi has already debuted for All Elite Wrestling. The Ace of New Japan appeared via pre-taped video on the 28 July Dynamite broadcast, challenging Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title, though this match would go down on an NJPW-promoted show.

Then, Tanahashi was scheduled to wrestle Jon Moxley at All Out, with the match being pulled due to timing issues. Instead, Satoshi Kojima wrestled Mox, with Minoru Suzuki making his AEW debut post-match to set up his match with Moxley on the post-All Out broadcast of Dynamite.

Tanahashi vs. Moxley is a match that AEW can't pass up the opportunity to promote this match, though. It's a high-profile match that AEW could easily promote as the main event of an important Dynamite episode, such as the Grand Slam Dynamite this Wednesday. The match would almost certainly deliver on every level; the snap of Tanahashi's dragon screws as he near-enough pulls the leg out of its socket, the intensity of Moxley's lariats against the 'Ace's' neck, the many, many possible match-ending spots. It feels surreal just writing about it, and the match hasn't even been announced.

Considering it was more or less confirmed for All Out, it's an idea that the Tony Khan-helmed promotion will come back to.