On the May 24th edition of Dynamite, it was announced that Aussie Open are the latest stars to become All Elite.
The Australian team, consisting of Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher, has been having an impact on tag team divisions around the world in the last year. Most recently, they became New Japan Pro Wrestling’s first dual Tag Team Champions, capturing both the IWGP and STRONG versions of the titles.
One of their most acclaimed matches came at NJPW’s Royal Quest II event in the UK in October 2022. The pair took on AEW’s FTR who then held the IWGP Titles in an instant classic that was highly praised by fans and critics alike.
Ever since then, fans have been clamouring for a rematch between the two teams, with the 2023 edition of Forbidden Door having been seen as the most likely event for the clash to happen with the AEW Tag Team Championships on the line.
Aussie Open unlikely to face FTR at AEW Forbidden Door
During New Japan’s recent Emergence event in the US, Fletcher unexpectedly came to the ring with the unfortunate news that his tag partner had suffered an injury meaning that they would be unable to make their scheduled defence of the titles at Dominion on June 4th.
Due to the promotion’s rules around defences, this meant that the team were forced to relinquish the championships.
In more bad news for the team, Dave Meltzer has reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that as Davis has undergone surgery, it would take a “miraculous” recovery for him to be able to compete against Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler Forbidden Door on June 25th.
“The way the timeline looks, unless somehow he’s backing the miraculous amount of time from the surgery, the FTR and Aussie Open match won’t make Forbidden Door.”
Meltzer went on to suggest that the match could end up happening at All In in the UK.
“Maybe you know that could easily go to Wembley. I mean, In fact, now that I think about it, I think that’s a great idea for Wembley [All In]. Originally, all signs lead to Aussie Open vs. FTR for Forbidden Door. It doesn’t look like Davis will make it for Forbidden Door.”
Before Harwood and Wheeler can consider opponents for Forbidden Door, they will need to overcome Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal at Double or Nothing in their first defence of the titles.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the above transcription.