Last year, when Tony Khan came up with the concept of a New Japan vs. AEW pay-per-view show, called Forbidden Door, there was a lot of criticism with the idea it would not be a success.
The feeling was that while New Japan Pro-Wrestling has some of the best wrestlers in the world, they are known to only a small percentage of American fans. Plus, because so many of the wrestlers involved were not AEW television regulars, the show didn’t have the long-term story lines to grab the audience.
The idea was there was a small audience that would love the shows, but not enough to where the concept would work from a big-market standpoint.
