Latest On Adam Cole After AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door Match Cancellation

Adam Cole was pulled from last night's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 pay-per-view after arriving at the building with a fever, suffering from what is believed to be the flu, Tony Khan has confirmed.

The AEW founder and CEO stated as much during the post-Forbidden Door media scrum. Cole was sent home to prevent the illness from spreading, with his planned match against Tom Lawlor cancelled as a consequence.

Cole vs. Lawlor's cancellation had been confirmed by Khan prior to the show:-

Due to illness, @AdamColePro isn't cleared tonight, therefore the Adam Cole vs @FilthyTomLawlor match is canceled.

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Despite the change, tonight will be an amazing show!Thank you to everyone watching #ForbiddenDoor, either here live in Toronto @ScotiabankArena or on ppv tonight!

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 25, 2023

With the Cole bout scrapped, Lawlor, who was making his in-ring debut for AEW, wrestled Serpentico in a four-minute dark match instead.

Fightful Select reported that although Cole had been pulled from Forbidden Door because of the illness, he was "banged up" after wrestling a 30-minute time-limit draw against MJF on 14 June.

The outlet noted, too, that AEW had considered booking Lawlor against another wrestler on Forbidden Door's main card. This ended up not happening, with AEW instead making the last-minute choice to have Lawlor go over Serpentico instead.

There is currently no word on when Cole will be back on AEW television. Last week's Dynamite saw him and MJF paired up in the upcoming Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament.