Major NJPW Star In Chicago For AEW Forbidden Door

Could this New Japan star be in Chicago to cause CHAOS?

by Andrew Pollard
Toru Yano
NJPW

As soon as AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was announced, some fans speculated about seeing Toru Yano going up against either Orange Cassidy or Danhausen. While he's not on the Forbidden Door card as of this writing, Yano is now in Chicago.

Taking to his YouTube channel last night, the CHAOS member live streamed from his hotel room in the Windy City - with Chicago's United Center of course being the location of tonight's PPV.

What role Toru Yano has at Forbidden Door remains to be seen, but one has to imagine he'll be featured in some form or fashion due to the simple fact of flying from Japan to Chicago. Added to this, the 44-year-old's latest stream was titled "Emergency live delivery form the United States!".

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For those not familiar with Yano, he's largely a comedy wrestler for the most part. Doing his best to secure quick, underhand wins, the veteran usually ends up embarrassed by his opponents. That said, part of the fun of watching Toru Yano is that he does pick up the occasional shock win over genuine top stars. For example, it was Yano who handed Jon Moxley his first loss in the 2019 G1 Climax after Mox had picked up dominant victories over heavy hitters like Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii.

Be sure to head to FITE.tv to purchase AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.