Jon Moxley Winning And 5 Smart Booking Decisions

AEW and NJPW are opening up pro wrestling’s Forbidden Door with the first-ever pay-per-view of the same name on Sunday, but the show’s card isn’t exactly what fans initially expected.

In an unfortunate turn of events, AEW has been bitten by the injury bug, and AEW President Tony Khan even admitted that many plans changed for Forbidden Door due to stars like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson being sidelined. Likewise, pro wrestling’s ever-tricky political game has resulted in stars like Andrade El Idolo missing this show as well, so what could have been a card chock full of dream matches isn’t as appealing as it should be.

Typically hosting only four pay-per-views a year, AEW will be running its second PPV in about a month, and though it should deliver from an in-ring perspective just as most AEW shows do, the show’s success will hinge on how well it’s booked and what future storylines it sets up. So, let’s take a look at five smart booking decisions AEW must make at Forbidden Door to pave the way for a strong summer.

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FTR Becomes Unified Tag Team Champions

One of AEW’s biggest booking miscues at last month’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view was leaving FTR—one of the hottest acts in the company—off the card. The recent babyface turn for Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood has worked wonders for both stars, and they continue to rank among the most popular stars in the company.

At Forbidden Door, they’ll get a chance to retain their ROH World Tag Team Championship and win the IGWP World Tag Team Championship, and that’s the right call here. Especially with FTR’s contracts coming up soon and WWE reportedly being interested in bringing them back, now is the time to go all in, pun intended, on their push and capitalize on the momentum they’ve built up in recent months.

FTR should walk out of Forbidden Door as both the ROH and IWGP Tag Team Champions, with their sights set on capturing the AEW titles and cementing themselves as the best tag team in the world.

Adam Page Avoids Getting Pinned

The four-way match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship should have been just a straight-up singles match, but it does have a lot of star power and the potential to deliver a classic match. The likeliest outcome is that Jay White, who only recently won the title, retains here, so the real question is how he does exactly that.

There is no clear or obvious finish, but one man who definitely should not be taking the pin is “Hangman” Adam Page. The former AEW Champion just lost his world title last month to CM Punk, but perhaps more importantly, he has also lost a lot of steam over the past two or three months. Because his story was all about the climb to beating Kenny Omega for AEW’s top prize, a post-title run letdown was inevitable, but given that Page has only recently been pushed as a true main eventer, it’s imperative that AEW continues portraying him as such.

That means that Page absolutely must avoid taking the pin at Forbidden Door, with White pulling some shenanigans on his kinda-sorta-friend Adam Cole to retain the title being the better option.

Miro Becomes The First All-Atlantic Champion

Did AEW need another singles title? Probably not, but it’s way too early to make a final judgment. In the ideal situation, the All-Atlantic Championship will function much like the TNT title did at its peak, serving as a way to catapult stars up the card and give upper midcarders something to fight for.

AEW has literally dozens of stars who could fit this role, but of the four stars in this match, Miro is the one who would benefit from it the most. Miro is fresh off a lengthy AEW absence, but has signed a new contract while AEW President Tony Khan recently said that he has a “plan” in place for the man formerly known as Rusev. That plan should be for Miro to become the inaugural All-Atlantic Champion, both to ignite a push for the talented star and to give the title instant credibility.

Bryan Danielson’s Replacement Is Not An Ex-WWE Star

Bryan Danielson is not cleared to compete in his highly anticipated match against Zack Sabre Jr., one that would have pitted arguably the two best technical wrestlers in the world against one another. On last week’s episode of Dynamite, Danielson hinted at his replacement being a technical master of a similar skill set, and speculation is running rampant that AEW will be bringing in yet another ex-WWE star to fill his spot.

The two likeliest options are Johnny Gargano and Cesaro, who both recently parted ways with WWE and rank among the world’s greatest in-ring performers. On paper, bringing in either Gargano or Cesaro sounds like a fantastic idea, but AEW’s roster is already log-jammed with so many wrestlers, including a boatload of former WWE stars. Many of those wrestlers—ranging from Andrade El Idolo to Malakai Black—aren’t really in a significantly better position in AEW than they were in WWE, which makes you wonder if AEW should continue to bring in more stars when its roster is already bursting at the seams.

Sure, fans would pop huge for a Gargano or Cesaro debut at Forbidden Door, but where do they go from there? With no clear answer to that question, it would be wiser for AEW to look in-house for Danielson’s replacement.

Jon Moxley Becomes Interim AEW World Champion

Due to an injury to CM Punk, Jon Moxley will battle NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi to determine who will hold the interim AEW World Championship, and this should be the biggest no-brainer on the card: Moxley must win this dream match. The reasoning is simple, too, and it’s because Moxley is a contracted AEW talent while Tanahashi is not.

One could also argue that Moxley is the heart and soul of AEW, its biggest star and its most important as well. He continues to be over in a massive way, has been consistently delivering strong in-ring performances and has always been amazing on the microphone. The timing of Punk’s injury was very unfortunate, but the blessing in disguise here is that this could lead to a marquee unification match between Punk and Moxley, who are two of AEW’s most recognizable names.

To get there, though, Moxley has to beat Tanahashi at Forbidden Door and do so in convincing fashion.