On June 26th earlier this year, AEW and NJPW came together to present their first ever joint pay-per view, Forbidden Door, from the United Centre in Chicago, Illinois. One of the headlining bouts so Kazuchika Okada challenge Jay White for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a fatal four-way that also featured Adam Cole and Hangman Adam Page.
One top AEW star that unfortunately missed out on the historic event was Bryan Danielson, who was originally set to face Zack Sabre Jr before pulling out with an injury. Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Okada revealed that he was hoping to meet Danielson backstage at Forbidden Door, although he’s now eyeing an in-ring meeting instead.
“I was hoping to meet Bryan Danielson at Forbidden Door, but unfortunately that couldn’t happen. Since we couldn’t talk backstage, I’m happy to meet him in the ring next time,”
-Kazuchika Okada
The inaugural Forbidden Door event was undoubtably a success for both companies, although its currently unknown as to whether there’ll be a second installation. Should AEW and NJPW decide to partner up for another PPV, Okada is hoping that Japan will be the hosts this time around.
“AEW is a great promotion, I definitely felt that in my time there. There are places where they win out over NJPW, and areas where New Japan is superior as well. I think both sides came away with something to learn and work on, and I’d love to have another event with those lessons learned. Last time was in the U.S., so let’s have it in Japan next time.”
-Kazuchika Okada
Okada is set to make another challenge for Jay White’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January of next year. The pair most recently faced on in tag action at NJPW’s Rumble on 44th Street event in New York.
A match between Kazuchika Okada and Bryan Danielson would undoubtably excite fans of both AEW and New Japan. Ultimately time will tell as to when the two companies will come together for another show once again, and as always, we’ll aim to provide any updates as soon as we hear more.
