Kenny Omega Knows Forbidden Door Has Lost Its Prestige
Kenny Omega believes that the Forbidden Door concept isn’t what it used to be.
When the first AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door PPV took place in June 2022 it was a show headlined by AEW’s top guy Jon Moxley facing the NJPW legend Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event. That Omega-Tanahashi match represented what the Forbidden Door concept was all about because it was a chance to showcase AEW’s best against the best of NJPW.
There may not be anybody in AEW who associates with NJPW better than Kenny Omega. While Omega missed the first Forbidden Door show, in 2023 he would go on to have one of the best AEW matches ever with Will Ospreay, who was still with NJPW at the time.
Kenny Omega is a former IWGP World Champion who is one of the most successful wrestlers in NJPW in the last 20 years. After Kenny’s run with NJPW ended, he joined AEW in 2019 as an Executive Vice President and had a long reign as the AEW World Champion as well.
In an interview with NJPW on YouTube, Omega addressed that AEW-NJPW relationship and the Forbidden Door concept.
“I think that the concept of the Forbidden Door now, now that the door’s been booted wide open, it’s less of a…the way that I used to picture the Forbidden Door, you picture the cartoony door at the pearly gates, it’s like you need that special permission to open that thing up.”
Kenny Omega Thinks The Competition Is Stiffer Around The World In Pro Wrestling
The discussion continued with Kenny Omega saying that while the Forbidden Door concept may not be as unique as it used to be, it’s still something that allows some of the best wrestlers to have matches all over the world.
“Now, I just feel like it’s a revolving door. But you go out one end, you don’t come back the other, unless you have that passion because it’s opened the talent pool so wide, and it’s made our roster so diverse with so many options that if you aren’t a complete athlete, if you aren’t a complete wrestler, you just can’t hang.”
“So is it special? Maybe it’s lost a smidge of specialness by being able to cross over that plane. But it’s made the competition that much stiffer, and it’s made the competition that much tougher. You can’t succeed now unless you’re absolutely, not only the best in America, but the best in England, the best in Australia, the best in New Zealand, the best in Japan.”
“You have to be one of the world’s best athletes to succeed now in today’s global wrestling climate, and I think the Forbidden Door helped facilitate that.”
A serious illness called diverticulitis has caused Kenny Omega to be out of action since December 2023 and it’s unknown exactly when he can wrestle again. There is optimism that he is doing better, so perhaps a return isn’t too far away.
In the same interview above, Omega wondered if having the job of a wrestler and an EVP led to his illness due to the pressures of the jobs he was doing.