Real Reason For MJF’s Opponent At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023?

AEW

The real reason why this top NJPW star challenged MJF to a match at AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 has been revealed.

While MJF has always bashed NJPW in interviews, the AEW World Champion’s trash-talk towards the Japanese promotion intensified after Double or Nothing, ahead of Forbidden Door.

In the lead-up to the June 25 crossover pay-per-view, Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video to challenge MJF to an AEW World Title bout.

Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, while Tanahashi still uses his ‘Ace’ nickname, he’s not internally viewed as an unbeatable star.

Meltzer noted:

“Politically, Tanahashi is now a guy… for years and years and years and years, Tanahashi, Okada, Naito and who was the fourth guy… maybe Kota Ibushi or someone – it actually might have been Kenny Omega now that I think about it – but there’s four guys that New Japan, ‘If we come to the United States’, or whatever, like when they were working with Ring of Honor, it’s like, ‘You can’t beat these guys’.

“Actually it was Nakamura who was the fourth guy at the time. And at other points AJ (Styles) was as well.

“But anyway, the point is, is that you couldn’t (beat them).

“And then Tanahashi’s no longer on that list, so he’s a star who can lose, and that’s why he wrestled Moxley on the last Forbidden Door show.”

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Tanahashi was notably defeated by Jon Moxley in the main event of Forbidden Door 2022 for the vacant AEW World Championship.

The Ace lost his most recent singles match, with Will Ospreay besting the wrestling veteran at NJPW STRONG Resurgence 2023.

Check out the announced card for AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 right here.

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• Forbidden Door
• Hiroshi Tanahashi
• NJPW
• mjf
• AEW

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