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AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door II has come and gone, and what an event it was. As promised, the show delivered in terms of top-tier in-ring action and memorable moments from the opening until the end.
New Japan's finest were instrumental in making this crossover event a success, and fans were more than satisfied with the entertainment that was on offer.
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Apart from the more blatant takeaways from the show, sly developments were teased throughout, giving fans a glimpse into what they can expect to see from some of their favorite stars going forward. Here are five things we were subtly told at Forbidden Door 2023:
#5. Huge winner-takes-all match on the horizon
In what many could dub the sleeper match of the entire card, Orange Cassidy, Zack Sabre Jr., Katsuyori Shibata, and Daniel Garcia over-delivered in their four-way bout for the AEW International Championship.
The fun, fast-paced affair saw Freshly Squeezed hold onto his title. But what happened after the bell might be even more interesting. The International Champion (Cassidy), ROH Pure Champion (Shibata), and NJPW World Television Champion (ZSJ) had a staredown and possibly hinted at a massive collision between the three.
Perhaps this is building up to a monumental winner-takes-all three-way match down the line, and there would be no better setting for this than AEW All In at Wembley Stadium this August.
#4. Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay rematch set for AEW All In
Speaking of AEW All In, another bout that could potentially make its way onto the card is a blockbuster rematch between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay. The two world-class athletes lived up to the hype in their Forbidden Door contest and completely tore the roof off of the Scotiabank Arena.
With Ospreay picking up the win in their latest encounter, the scoreboard for their 2023 matches now stands at one apiece. A monumental grudge match between the two is necessary, and Wembley Stadium would be the perfect host for a contest of this magnitude.
To add fuel to the fire, All In takes place on The Aerial Assassin's home turf. Given that their Forbidden Door clash took place in Omega's home country of Canada and their Wrestle Kingdom spectacle occurred on neutral ground in Japan, it only makes sense that Ospreay is given a home-field advantage for the rubber match.
#3. The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club will meet in a Blood and Guts match
The heated feud between The Elite and The Blackpool Combat Club escalated even further at the Forbidden Door 2023 pay-per-view. Hangman Page and The Young Bucks teamed up with Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii to defeat Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita in a 10-man tag team match.
With the tension between the two formidable AEW factions failing to seize, it looks like the next logical step is to let them sort out their issues in the gruesome Blood and Guts match.
It has long been speculated that this would be the eventual outcome of this long-standing rivalry. Tony Khan may be best served to pull the trigger sooner rather than later to mitigate the risk of the feud becoming stale.
#2. Taz set for an in-ring return?
In one of the most striking takeaways from the Forbidden Door event, Jack Perry finally cemented his heel turn when he attacked HOOK after failing to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship from Sanada.
Taz, AEW commentator and HOOK's real-life father, was notably angry and annoyed at the situation. He later stormed away from his broadcast position and was not seen for the rest of the show. Although he has not wrestled in 17 years, The Human Suplex Machine may be tempted to lace up his boots one more time to team up with his son and sort out their issues with Jungle Boy.
Given his history with Christian Cage and Luchasaurus, it is easy to imagine Perry crawling back to his former mentor or the newly-crowned TNT Champion to be his partner in this potential bout.
#1. CM Punk's heel turn is imminent
Similar to his reception on the most recent episode of AEW Collision, CM Punk was once again met with a thunderous chorus of jeers from the Toronto crowd as he made his entrance at Forbidden Door.
The boos continued throughout his match, and The Voice of the Voiceless comfortably played up to the crowd's reaction. He even went as far as to tease going down the heel stage entrance after the match.
It seems like only a matter of time now before The Second City Saint defiantly joins the dark side and turns his back on the AEW faithful for good. He is already generating tremendous heat, so why not lean into that and solidify him as the promotion's new top heel?
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