CM Punk Names NJPW Stars He’s Interested In Working With

CM Punk has named a number of NJPW stars he’s interested in facing, sharing his thoughts on wrestling’s ‘forbidden door’.

Since Hiroshi Tanahashi threatened to open the forbidden door during his Wrestle Kingdom 14 rivalry with Chris Jericho, a number of NJPW names have wrestled in the US for the likes of AEW and IMPACT.

Speaking on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, CM Punk confessed that he thinks ‘forbidden door’ sounds corny. Despite his opinion on the metaphor, Punk noted that he’d be interested in throwing down with NJPW measuring sticks Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay.

Wanting a taste of the action, Punk said:

“I think there’s a lot of people in AEW that would be first in line obviously but there are guys that I feel like are measuring sticks. I’m going to get into the ring with Kenny Omega one of these days, find out what he’s about. Obviously Kenny had these great matches with (Kazuchika) Okada, I think Okada is that measuring stick for New Japan Pro Wrestling, I also think (Hiroshi) Tanahashi, those are probably the two big names, then there’s young William Ospreay.

“There’s so many guys, its almost unfair to talk about them before I talk about all the AEW talent. There’s just so many options, a lot of options, and it’s exciting. The ‘forbidden door’ sounds corny to me, I always think it’s funny when people are like ‘the forbidden door’, I’m like ‘I get it’, but it’s a real thing.

“I look at a guy like (Jon) Moxley and I tell him every week I see him… It’s not jealousy, it’s envy, which might be equally as bad, but I’m like bro you get to work (Minoru) Suzuki, come on, that dude’s a legend! He’s having the time of his life and it looks like fun, I’d like to get a taste of that.”

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Punk previously revealed that he’d be interested in teaming with Bryan Danielson to take on the Lucha Brothers for the AEW Tag Team Championship. The former WWE Champion has stated that he sees potential in a nixed ROH plan for himself and Danielson to form a tandem.

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• Forbidden Door
• Kazuchika Okada
• cm punk
• NJPW

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