Eddie Kingston has returned from his injury and is set to take on KENTA for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.
The AEW star has been out of action since the ROH Supercard of Honor show, suffering a hernia which required surgery earlier this month.
While it was unknown how long Kingston would be out of action, it appears the injury healed quicker than they thought, and he should return to action soon against the Japanese legend.
At NJPW Resurgence. KENTA defeated Hikuleo to win the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion, becoming the first-ever two-time title holder.
KENTA’s count-out victory ends Hikuleo’s reign at 18 days, with zero successful title defenses. Hikuleo won the title from KENTA at Wrestling Dontaku on May 3.
After KENTA’s victory, a video from Eddie Kingston played, issuing a challenge to the eventual winner of the bout. However, due to the video being recorded before the match, the challenge was not directly issued to KENTA.
KENTA mocked Kingston afterwards, claiming that he did “not understand” his New York accent, but accepted his challenge, declaring his intent to defend it anytime, and anywhere.
While the location for the match has not been announced, many have theories that it could take place at the upcoming AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event.
This show takes the best and brightest from both AEW and NJPW, and puts on incredible cross-promotion dream matches, that the fans never thought they’d see.
Last year saw matches like Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Orange Cassidy vs Will Ospreay. While these were huge outs, this years show could get even bigger.
As well as the inclusion of Eddie Kingston vs KENTA, the show is also rumoured to feature Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega 2, which was set up on the same NJPW Resurgence show.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2 will be AEW’s third PPV Event of 2023. It will also be the second event in the Forbidden Door series. The event is scheduled for June 25th, 2023 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
While the card for Forbidden Door 2 has yet to be announced, there are many matches that are rumoured to take place at the event. Click down below to read about the potential Forbidden Door 2 match card.