NJPW Legend Wrestles Surprise Match At AEW Dark: Elevation Tapings (SPOILERS!)
SPOILERS on the NJPW kingpin that showed up at last night's AEW tapings.
Minoru Suzuki worked a previously unannounced match at last night's AEW Dark: Elevation tapings, felling undercard stalwart QT Marshall on a match recorded for the YouTube show.
This was part of a stacked set of AEW tapings in Pittsburgh, Pennysylvania encompassing Dark: Elevation, last night's live episode of Dynamite, and Friday's Rampage show. Suzuki, who has made multiple AEW appearances since the promotion commenced its working relationship with NJPW, picked up his first official AEW victory in defeating Marshall. Prior to this, the legendary Pancrase founder had fallen to Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley in singles matches, as well as in a Lights Out tag battle pitting him and Lance Archer against Moxley and Eddie Kingston.
Suzuki vs. Marshall went down on the same night that AEW and NJPW formally announced the Forbidden Door supershow for 26 June. Whether or not Suzuki will be involved isn't yet confirmed, though his immense popularity in the United States would make him a strong candidate.
Another notable match from the Dark: Elevation tapings saw DDT leading man Konosuke Takeshita defeat Brandon Cutler. Takeshita recently arrived in the United States for a year-long excursion that will see him based in AEW, with this being his first bout as part of that.
Suzuki vs. Marshall and Takeshita vs. Cutler should air as part of next week's Dark: Elevation.