Since NJPW star KENTA made his first appearance for AEW back in February 2021, the working relationship between the two companies has flourished with numerous wrestlers passing through the once Forbidden Door.
The crossover between the two led to the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door supershow in June 2022. The event saw dream inter-promotional matches such as the main event clash between Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi as well as huge title matches including a Four-Way to determine the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion.
Perhaps most notably, the Ring of Honor and AAA Tag Team Champions FTR added to their collection of gold when they defeated United Empire’s Great O-Khan & Jeff Cobb, and Roppongi Vice to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championships which they still hold today.
Since the event, promotional crossovers have continued with the likes of Tomohiro Ishii crossing over to AEW in a losing effort against Eddie Kingston at All Out, while Lance Archer took part in NJPW’s G1 Climax tournament.
Will AEW stars appear at Wrestle Kingdom 17?
With the Forbidden Door remaining wide open, many fans have been wondering if NJPW’s biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdon 17, will see matches featuring the stars of AEW.
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave an update on the possibility, saying it was indeed the plan as of a “couple of months ago”.
“I know that as of a couple of months ago, that was the plan. It’s on a Wednesday night, the same night as AEW are in Seattle. So it’s tough, I don’t who it would be but I do know that there were guys planned for the show, as of a couple months ago.”
The next time we will see AEW stars in action in Japan will be on November 5th when FTR hit Osaka to defend the IWGP Tag Team Championships against the previous champions, Jeff Cobb and Great O-Khan. If FTR retain, there is a good chance they will defend the titles again at Wrestle Kingdom where they would face the winners of the upcoming World Tag League.
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