With a laundry list of injury woes in the company, things look to have gotten worse for AEW at Forbidden Door with a major stay reportedly hurt.
The first match announced for AEW and New Japan’s supershow was AEW World Champion CM Punk taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi. However, that quickly changed when Punk announced he required surgery on a foot injury. This led to NJPW’s Ace going one-on-one with Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door to crown an Interim AEW Champion in Punk’s absence.
Bryan Danielson was also originally scheduled to be a part of the show following the challenge made to him by NJPW star Zack Sabre Jr. Danielson revealed that he was suffering from an injury and would miss both that show and Blood and Guts but promised a suitable replacement. This led to the shock AEW debut of Claudio Castagnoli – formerly WWE’s Cesaro – who defeated Sabre Jr in a stellar match.
Now things seem to have gone from bad to worse following Forbidden Door with Adam Cole suffering from a concussion according to Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez
Adam Cole was a part of the four-way match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door alongside champion Jay White, Hangman Adam Page, and Kazuchika Okada. White took advantage of Okada hitting the Rainmaker on Cole to claim the pinfall on the former Bullet Club member.
The Young Bucks and Kyle O’Reilly hit the ring to check on their Undisputed Elite teammate after the match with AEW medical staff also giving Cole the once over at ringside.
The match had been Adam Cole’s first AEW bout since Double Or Nothing when he won the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Reports had suggested the former NXT Champion had been dealing with an injury following his win over Samoa Joe.