During his time in AEW, “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry has made plenty of new fans. Alas, the man holding NJPW’s top title, Sanada, doesn’t appear to be among them.
The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion issued an open challenge for his title ahead of Forbidden Door this Sunday in Toronto. It’s fair to say he expected … well, someone other than Perry to answer it.
Not only does Sanada claim to not know who Perry is, he sounds like he’s rethinking the whole open challenge thing.
“I have no knowledge of Jack Perry,” Sanada said to Tokyo Sports (h/t DeepL). “It’s sad to see someone like that challenge the IWGP. Is an open challenge really that easy to decide? It’s the IWGP. I think it’s worth more than the AEW belt.”
Sanada added that he has no intention of allowing the IWGP title to head overseas with the G1 tournament coming up.
Perry, meanwhile, had his chance at the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing, but saw MJF retain the title in a four-way match that featured all of AEW’s so-called “Four Pillars.” He’s spoken openly about his desire to claim a singles title in 2023 — and he’ll have semi-regular tag team partner Hook in his corner this weekend — but it’s fair to say not many people are picking him to upset Sanada.
The second annual Forbidden Door supershow is set for the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto this Sunday. Other New Japan talent confirmed for the card include Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Minoru Suzuki, Shota Umino, Tomohiro Ishii, Satoshi Kojima and Zack Sabre Jr.