The first Interim AEW World Title challenger has been announced.
The Interim AEW World Title Eliminator Series kicked off Wednesday night’s AEW Dynamite with a Battle Royal. Kyle O’Reilly won that match and went on to face Jon Moxley in the main event. Moxley defeated O’Reilly and will now compete for the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door title on June 26.
Moxley will face the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto at NJPW Dominion on June 12 in the Forbidden Door title battle. The main event of Forbidden will not be announced until June 12.
Wrestlers entered tonight’s Battle Royal in groups of five. The groups went like this: Daniel Garcia, Eddie Kingston, Lance Archer, Tony Nese and Darby Allin; Jake Hager, Rey Fenix, FTW Champion Ricky Starks, Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland; Konosuke Takeshita, Max Caster, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn and John Silver; Powerhouse Hobbs, Dante Martin, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta, Bobby Fish and O’Reilly. The joker entrant was Andrade El Idolo.
The final four were Fenix, Yuta, Andrade, and O’Reilly. After tossing Fenix out with a low blow, Andrade and O’Reilly teamed up on Yuta. Andrade kept charging, but Yuta and O’Reilly threw him out. After that, O’Reilly and Yuta brawled for a few minutes before O’Reilly threw him out for the win.
The inaugural AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view is scheduled for Sunday, June 26 from the United Center in Chicago, IL. Here is the updated card:
Interim AEW World Title Match
Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto
Fatal 4 Way for the Inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Title
PAC vs. Malakai Black or Penta Oscuro vs. Miro or Ethan Page vs. NJPW star TBD
IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
Adam Cole and/or Adam Page vs. Jay White or Kazuchika Okada (c)
