Wheeler Yuta looks back on AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
On June 25, AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling held the Forbidden Door pay-per-view for the second year in a row. The show featured top talent from both companies and delivered interpromotional dream matches, including the buzzworthy main event between Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada.
Speaking with Battle & Eli on the Battleground Podcast, Yuta discussed the pay-per-view and highlighted the remarkable crowd. He also described how Forbidden Door shows are inherently special due to the way they deliver matches that previously seemed impossible.
“Forbidden Door this year and last year were both just absolutely phenomenal weekends. The crowds were incredible,” Yuta said. “Being able to work with New Japan is incredible. Seeing some of my friends from New Japan, from the Super Juniors and from my time in STRONG, as well as seeing some of my rivals, I forgot that El Desperado does the Japanese shows for AEW, so I saw him, and I thought, ‘Oh man, I owe this guy one.’ I still want to wrestle him again, I need that rematch.
“It was really cool to be able to see all those people at Forbidden Door, and the crowd is just insane. It’s an atmosphere like no other because it’s matches that you never thought would happen, and you never thought that they would happen on that stage and in that way. We had Bryan [versus] Okada. That is like a dream thing that, there’s this guy on Twitter, Tom’s Customs, that makes fake graphics. I could imagine that being one of them, a fake graphic that could have been made five years ago that we’ve never gonna see, and we saw it happen for real. All that energy, it makes it something really special.”
Yuta was also asked to share his thoughts on his match at the show, where he teamed up with Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Shota Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita in a losing effort against The Elite, Eddie Kingston, and Tomohiro Ishii.
“I think that match was very important,” Yuta said. “We really wanted to, one, get at each other, but two, also show that this is really good showcase of AEW, and it was AEW and New Japan, but we wanted to really go out and prove that we’re some of the best wrestlers in the world. I think that we went out there and we did that.
“It was just so much fun to be in that atmosphere with those guys. It was a very important match, and I think it really did set the stage where now we want some revenge at Blood & Guts, but it was absolutely a blast to be out there with those guys.”
Yuta will face Kenny Omega on the July 5 episode of AEW Dynamite. WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs.
The full interview is available here:
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