The All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling Super show, named Forbidden Door, was one of the biggest and most exciting wrestling events of the summer. It pitted the top stars from AEW and NJPW against each other in some blockbuster bouts and was main evented by Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for the AEW Championship.
One of the main event matches featured the Ace of New Japan Kazuchika Okada challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. He was part of a four way match in which he was joined by Adam Cole and Adam Page in their bid to take the belt from champion “Switchblade” Jay White. White was victorious in the match by pinning Cole, although Okada will get his rematch when the duo meet again at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
However, one man that was not able to wrestle at the event was former WWE Champion Bryan Danielson. The Blackpool Combat Club member is considered one of the best wrestlers of all time and had no shortage of suitors lining up to wrestle him. The man who was set to face him at the event was British grappler Zack Sabre Jr who modelled his style on Danielson and noted him as one of his biggest inspirations.
However, injury at Double or Nothing 2022 ruled him out of the event, and Sabre Jr instead lost to the debuting Claudio Castagnoli (formerly Cesaro in WWE). This was devastating as it was a dream match for both men, and the fans, and would have surely been one of the matches of the year had Danielson been permitted to wrestling.
There was another match that Kazuchika Okada would have preferred to have been a part of at Forbidden Door, however. He revealed in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he would have loved to have had a dream match with Bryan Danielson at Forbidden Door, with hopes that Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson will happen at the next Forbidden Door event in 2023.
“I was hoping to meet Bryan Danielson at Forbidden Door, but unfortunately that couldn’t happen Since we couldn’t talk backstage, I’m happy to meet him in the ring next time.”
Kazuchika Okada on a potential match with Bryan Danielson
The pair have never wrestled before and are considered to be two of the greatest wrestlers of all time. By the time both their careers are over they will be first ballot Hall of Famers and will be considered alongside the likes of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Antonio Inoki in terms of their legendary contribution to the wrestling business in their respective countries.
Okada is set to team with Eddie Kingston to take on IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White and Juice Robinson (as Bullet Club) at New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Rumble on 44th Street at the Palladium in Times Square. This is New Japan’s latest US-based show and Okada’s first appearance in New York since before the pandemic in 2019.
Bryan Danielson is advertised for next weeks AEW Dynamite. He recently defeated Sammy Guevara on Dynamite after losing to Jon Moxley in the match for the vacant AEW Championship. He is rumoured to be wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 17, although scheduling conflicts with AEW may put a potential match at the event in jeopardy.
Would you like to see Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson? Let us know in the comments or click below to read about Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 17.