At the forthcoming AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title will be defended.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defeated AAA & ROH World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood in singles action on this week’s Road Rager episode of AEW Dynamite. After a tense back-and-forth match, Ospreay, who is also the RevPro British Heavyweight Champion and the Warrior Wrestling Champion, finished Harwood with the Hidden Blade.
After the match, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis) joined Ospreay in the ring to beat up on Harwood. Cash Wheeler, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero came to the rescue, as a large brawl broke out. Orange Cassidy’s music hit as he returned to Dynamite and squared off against Ospreay in the middle of the ring. To close the segment, the United Empire regrouped at ringside, with Cassidy, Trent, Romero, and FTR standing tall together in the ring.
Cassidy vs. Ospreay for Forbidden Door was then announced, with the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title on the line.
Cassidy has not wrestled since suffering a shoulder injury in the Face of The Revolution Ladder Match at AEW Revolution on March 6. He had a few brief appearances on Dark and Rampage in March, April, and May. Cassidy was injured when Keith Lee launched him out of the ring onto Christian Cage and FTW Champion Ricky Starks. Cassidy’s injury was said to be serious at the time, and while he did not require surgery, he would be out of the ring for some time.
The IWGP United States Heavyweight Title will be defended for the first time by Ospreay. He defeated Sanada to win the vacant championship on June 12 at NJPW Dominion. Due to Juice Robinson being unable to go to Japan for the Triple Threat title defense due to appendicitis, the belt has been vacated.
The first AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view will take place on Sunday, June 26 from Chicago’s United Center. The current card is below:
Interim AEW World Title Match
Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Winner faces injured AEW World Champion CM Punk at a later date.
Fatal 4 Way for the Inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Title
Miro vs. PAC vs. Malakai Black or Penta Oscuro vs. Tomoaki Honma or Clark Connors or Tomohiro Ishii or Yoshinobu Kanemaru
AEW Women’s World Title Match
Toni Storm vs. Thunder Rosa (c)
IWGP United States Heavyweight Title Match
Orange Cassidy vs. Will Ospreay (c)
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki and Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta
IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
Adam Cole and/or Adam Page vs. Jay White (c)
Rumored and teased but unconfirmed.
Look who's back! It's #FreshlySqueezed @orangecassidy! #ForbiddenDoor can't come soon enough! #AEWDynamite: #RoadRager is LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/DGRMoobvUB
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 16, 2022
