Original Forbidden Door 2024 Main Event Plans Revealed

In the main event of Forbidden Door 2024, Swerve Strickland successfully defended the AEW World Championship against Will Ospreay in a match that many didn’t expect to see initially. It was reported following the PPV that Ospreay himself had lobbied to be in the match and to take the loss, as Strickland defeating someone of Ospreay’s level would counter any arguments made about Strickland being a transitional champion. This was even more of a surprise match as it didn’t follow the usual AEW vs. NJPW formula of Forbidden Door. 

Fightful Select have now reported on what the original main event of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 was supposed to be. The original plan for the PPV could have seen NJPW’s Yota Tsuji step up to face Strickland for the AEW World Championship. It is noted that these were only considerations and that it isn’t known if Tsuji knew that he was in line for a potential title shot. He ended up wrestling on the Zero Hour show of Forbidden Door, teaming with Titan and Hiromu Takahashi in a losing effort to The Lucha Brothers and Mistico.

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