Real Reason Behind MJF’s Forbidden Door Opponent
On the June 14th edition of AEW Dynamite, MJF learned his fate for Forbidden Door when NJPW legend and former ace Hiroshi Tanahashi challenged him for his AEW World Championship.
Tanahashi is one of the biggest wrestling stars in Japan from the past two decades. He has been instrumental in bringing New Japan from its nadir back in the mid-to-late 2000s and helped bring the company into the 21st century by wrestling in a more showmanlike and athletic style.
But MJF doesn’t appear to think much of Tanahashi, at least based on his promos. He has been dismissive of New Japan as a company and has stated that the praise that promotions stars get is overblown.
As for why Tanahashi of all people is challenging for the AEW World Championship, the reason, according to Dave Meltzer, is because Tanahashi is no longer considered untouchable within NJPW.
“Politically, 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’.
“But anyway, the point is, is that you couldn’t (beat them).
Hiroshi Tanahashi has been wrestling for almost 25 years now and at 46 years old, is starting to be considered past his prime by many fans.
[sided-debate-embed debate-id=”27580″]
h/t WrestleTalk for the transcription