Why AEW Chose Surprising Opponent For MJF At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II Event

MJF is the current AEW World Champion and truly considers himself the best professional wrestler on the planet right now. He rarely wrestles, which makes each of his matches feel special. MJF is in for a major match at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II event, where he will be squaring off against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Now it appears the real reason for choosing Tanahashi as his opponent has been revealed.

The Salt of The Earth is known to be very aggressive towards those he does not like and this includes fans. MJF is truly a student of the game and has respect for every veteran, except for those in NJPW.

With the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II event set to take place on June 25th, Tony Khan has made sure to make it the most stacked event this year. Following MJF’s match on Dynamite this week, Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video to challenge MJF to an AEW World Title match.

While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that while Tanahashi still uses his ‘Ace’ nickname, he’s not internally viewed as an unbeatable talent. That’s likely why Tanahashi was chosen as MJF’s opponent at the event.

“Politically, Tanahashi is now a guy… for years and years and years and years, Tanahashi, Okada, Naito and who was the fourth guy, maybe Kota Ibushi or someone, it actually might have been Kenny Omega now that I think about it, but there’s four guys that New Japan, ‘If we come to the United States’, or whatever, like when they were working with Ring of Honor, it’s like, ‘You can’t beat these guys’.

Actually it was Nakamura who was the fourth guy at the time. And at other points AJ (Styles) was as well. But anyway, the point is, is that you couldn’t (beat them).

And then Tanahashi’s no longer on that list, so he’s a star who can lose, and that’s why he wrestled Moxley on the last Forbidden Door show.”

The Forbidden Door event is shaping up to be one of the most memorable events in recent memory. We will have to wait and see whether MJF and Tanahashi will end up having a 5* classic.

What’s your view on this story? Are you looking forward to MJF vs Hiroshi Tanahashi? Let us know in the comments!