Tony Khan Addresses STARDOM Absence From Forbidden Door

AEW President Tony Khan has addressed the absence of World Wonder Ring STARDOM competitors at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

When the crossover pay-per-view was originally announced, many fans expected women’s promotion STARDOM to have a presence at the show, as NJPW and STARDOM are both owned by BUSHIROAD.

Speaking in the post-Forbidden Door media scrum, Tony Khan noted that he is interested in working with STARDOM.

Discussing issues surrounding having the promotion’s talent wrestle at Forbidden Door, Khan said:

“I was interested in using STARDOM, obviously they have a close relationship with New Japan, and all the wrestlers from STARDOM were pretty much booked and they didn’t have visas. It was a big obstacle.

“There is definitely potential there. Certainly, Toni is one of the hottest and rising stars in AEW since she arrived in AEW. I thought it made great sense because she’s been a champion in Japan, has great experience at STARDOM, and someone who has been on our TV. It was a great match we could build to. t was not a blood rivalry. I was forged in mutual respect and fought it with honor.

“It was a great wrestling match and it was cool. I thought Toni was the perfect choice given who was on our TV, who was pushed, and knowing that, while it would have been another challenge, in addition to many other challenges, to take people from STARDOM and get them over on our TV, it would have been possible to do it, absolutely, but availability is the greatest ability of all in this business and most businesses. In this case, there was no availability. Toni, for many reasons, was a great choice and they had a great match.”

During the pay-per-view, Thunder Rosa defended her AEW Women’s Championship against Toni Storm.

Check out our live results for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door at this link.

Transcription via Fightful.

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