NJPW Star Discusses Challenges Of Formatting AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Card

AEW/NJPW

A NJPW star has discussed the challenges of formatting AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door card.

On Sunday, June 25, All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling will present their second Forbidden Door pay-per-view.

In 2023, NJPW has fully embraced collaboration with other promotions besides AEW, such as AJPW, Pro Wrestling NOAH and IMPACT Wrestling.

When booking crossover shows between two or more companies, there is a slippery slope on balancing the interests of the two different entities.

In a recent interview with the Under The Ring Podcast, Rocky Romero discussed the challenges of trying to format a special show like the upcoming Forbidden Door event. He said:

“Well, I think the quality part is kind of easy in the fact that I think both companies have such great talent that you can put any mixture of these guys or girls together and, you know, create something super special, like we saw last year.”

“Outside of that, I think the hardest part is just, like, two big companies like this who have a really regular schedule. It’s hard to try to schedule everybody in when we need to, right?”

“So now that Double or Nothing is finished, AEW has to build to Forbidden Door. On the Japan side, we had just finished Dominion, and now we are building to Forbidden Door.”

“Now it’s just kind of getting everybody acclimated to having these three or four weeks that we need to build the pay-per-view.”

Romero continued on to acknowledge that a show such as this does not need an intense build because of the strength of these dream matches, saying:

“Also, there doesn’t also need to be a crazy build like you would normally build to a big show because Forbidden Door is kind of special in the fact that it’s dream matches or we’re trying to give you matches that you wouldn’t normally see on either program, right? Whether it’s in AEW or in New Japan.”

This year’s Forbidden Door event will feature NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada vs. AEW’s Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega defending the IWGP United States Championship against Will Ospreay.

For the full lineup for the June 25 show, click here.

Transcription via Fightful

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• challenges
• AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
• Rocky Romero
• NJPW

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