Tony Khan says he wanted to have Stardom represented on the Forbidden Door card but the talent was unavailable.
During his post-show media scrum, Tony Khan was asked if he had any interest in using Stardom or other New Japan Pro-Wrestling talent for Forbidden Door. Stardom is the sister promotion of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as both are owned by Bushiroad. Khan said there’s potential for the promotion to be included, then spoke about how Toni Storm, who has history in Stardom herself, was a great choice to face Thunder Rosa on the show.
“Yeah, I was interested in that. And to be honest, the people from Stardom, I was interested in using Stardom, they have obviously a close relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling being aligned, and all the wrestlers from Stardom were pretty much booked and they didn’t have Visas. So it was a big obstacle. And I think there is definitely potential there. Certainly, Toni is one of the hottest rising stars in AEW since she arrived in AEW and I thought it made great sense. She’s been a champion in Japan, she’s got great experience in Stardom and also somebody who’s been on our TV. And it was a great match we could build to, and it was not a blood rivalry where they hate each other,” Khan noted, “but it was forged in mutual respect. And it was fought fittingly enough with honor, and it was a great wrestling match, and I think that was cool and it made it different from some of the other blood feuds on the card.
“I thought Toni was a perfect choice, given who was on our TV, who was pushed, and also knowing that while it would have been another challenge, in addition to many other challenges to take people from Stardom and get them over on our TV, I think it was possible to do it, absolutely. But availability is the greatest ability of all in this business and most business. And in this case, there was no availability,” Khan added. “So Toni was for many reasons a great choice, and I thought Toni and Thunder Rosa had a great match.”
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