A report has indicated that CM Punk will not be wrestling KENTA at Forbidden Door.
This Sunday will see AEW and New Japan team up to put on the second annual Forbidden Door event. So far, dream matches such as Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega’s defence of the IWGP United States Championship against Will Ospreay.
There are currently only four total matches that have been confirmed for the crossover show, with many wondering whether there are any plans for CM Punk this Sunday following his triumphant return to AEW on the debut episode of Collision last weekend.
One of the rumoured possibilities for the Chicago-born star come June 25 was a match with KENTA. This is something many fans have been fantasy booking for some years and the Japanese star even leaned into the recent rumours on Twitter. However, per Fightful Select, it’s now known that any potential match between the two is off and no longer a possibility for Forbidden Door.
“Fightful Select has learned that KENTA expressed to NJPW and AEW that he isn’t facing CM Punk at the Forbidden Door show, as word started to make way around Collision this past week.”
-Fightful Select
The report notes that CM Punk’s clash with KENTA had been pencilled in up until this weekend, with no reason given as to why it’s been pulled. As mentioned, the Japanese star has been no stranger to discussing the rumoured match on Twitter, though his recent tweet of ‘Kenta vs Punk is never going to happen’ is said to have been in direct response to the match being axed.
As of now, AEW are believed to be considering alternate options for CM Punk at Sunday’s event, though as of now it’s unclear whether the 44-year-old will feature on Forbidden Door at all, with Fightful stating that sources have indicated most other top NJPW stars have been booked for separate top matches, most of which haven’t yet been announced.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the plans for Forbidden Door, including those for CM Punk and KENTA should we hear more.
