Will Stardom Have A Presence At AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door?

Will KAIRI and other Stardom talent be involved at Forbidden Door?

by Andrew Pollard
KAIRI NJPW x STARDOM Historical X-Over
NJPW/STARDOM

With the second AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door looming large on the horizon, many fans have pondered whether Stardom will be involved in this crossover PPV. And on that topic, it unfortunately looks like it will be another Forbidden Door event without a Stardom presence.

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted how there have been no recent talks between AEW and Stardom, whilst he also detailed how there's the small matter of Stardom Sunshine 2023 taking place on the same day as Forbidden Door.

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"There's been some talk regarding Stardom and Forbidden Door, and there's nothing going on there. First of all, none of the Stardom women have Canadian visas, so even if they wanted to do something, it'd have to be rushed. Stardom has a PPV that day. From people in Stardom, there's been no talk from their side, they have heard nothing. The only contact that Stardom and AEW have had, they didn't have any last year either, the only contact they have had was Stardom had contacted AEW about perhaps some of the women from AEW wrestling against KAIRI at the Tokyo Dome show for the IWGP Women's Championship. And they couldn't get the deal done, and it never was serious. It was going to be KAIRI and Tam [Nakano] at that show, but they did make an enquiry at that time. So that's the only contact that there's been. There's nothing, there's no talk, and even if there was... I mean, Kairi could have a visa from her time working in WWE. I don't know that she does, I was told that nobody does, and she's somebody... but none of the other women, for sure, do. And they have a PPV that day, and every key wrestler on the roster is booked on that PPV. I know Tony Khan looked about that and everything, but they're saying that there's pretty much no chance. Certainly, they have not been contacted at this point, so that's what's going on there."

This follows on from a recent Fightful Select report which listed Toni Storm as somebody who was at one point discussed as facing a Stardom talent at Forbidden Door this year. The nowadays AEW Women's Champion famously spent several years competing for Stardom, including having a record-setting 612-day reign as the SWA World Champion.

As alluded to, Stardom Sunshine 2023 emanates from Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium on the same 25 June date as AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. With a stacked card, Sunshine has a who's who of the promotion's top talent already booked for that event, meaning any Forbidden Door appearances for the likes of KAIRI, Tam Nakano, Syuri, Giulia, Mayu Iwatani, Utami Hayashishita, and AZM are all off the table.

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Tony Khan has previously stated how he has interest in working with Stardom, though it seems that we may have to wait until Forbidden Door 3 for that to happen.

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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.