It continues to look unlikely that STARDOM talent will be used at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door 2 from the Scotiabank Arena on June 25th.
While there had been speculation this could happen as there were talks between STARDOM and AEW, it was reported over the weekend it’s not looking likely. STARDOM is also slated to hold its own pay-per-view event, STARDOM SUNSHINE 2023, on June 25th.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega defending the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay have been confirmed for Forbidden Door.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted it is very unlikely that STARDOM talent will be used on the Forbidden Door card, although a deal could be reached at the last second.
“OK, so when we talked about the thing on Saturday night show about the STARDOM situation, we brought up that nobody has visas now. We later found out and STARDOM did not even know this, but Canada has a law that entertainers do not need working Visas if they come in to do tours. You know, this was actually done for concert promoters and concert performers because it had been so hard to get these working Visas and it was screwing everything up and WWE fit into this. So pro wrestlers fit into this category. So like the Mexican wrestlers that need to get working Visas to legally work in the United States, they can go to Canada anytime they want. Japanese wrestlers, it’s the same thing you can know if you need a visa to legally work in the United States. You do not need one to work in Canada. So it’s not…so the fact that there are no STARDOM women, with the possible exception of Kairi, I don’t know her status and she probably wouldn’t either because you don’t need one in WWE you wouldn’t have needed one, you wouldn’t have needed one. So basically most likely no star in women and certainly none other than Kairi have visas for Canada, but they don’t need them so. As of Sunday, nobody from STARDOM had been talked to by AEW and I don’t know that there’s anything there and every wrestler in the STARDOM roster with the exception of Fukin Death every single one of them is booked on a pay-per-view the same day. So you know, I don’t want to say it’s impossible that we’re not getting it or anything like that but it’s very unlikely there will be any STARDOM talent at Forbidden Door, you know. I mean they could put a deal together at the last minute. You would think that we’re only, what are we now, about two weeks or just under two weeks away? You would think that the whole card should be done in Tony’s [Khan] head and on paper and everything like that already. So you know that pretty much tells you.”
Meltzer then noted that several top NJPW stars won’t be on Dynamite this week, but Sanada’s IWGP Heavyweight Title defense at Forbidden Door could be announced.
“I expect there are some new, you know, there are some new Japan wrestlers like KENTA, who are in the country who could be on the show Wednesday. But almost all the big guns, Tanahashi, Okada, Sanada, you know Tetsuya Naito, all those guys, are all working in Japan this week, so none of those guys would be available to work to show up as a surprise on dynamite.
There is a hint. I know that, you know, I was just watching the All Together Again show and the announcers basically made a comment about Sanada and Wednesday’s Dynamite show. So he may have a taped interview and the Sanada match on the Forbidden Door show. Sounds like it’s going to be revealed on Wednesday night. I don’t know, I mean, that’s basically the hints that were given on the New Japan broadcast on Friday.”
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