Report: CM Punk-Kenta not happening at Forbidden Door

Kenta apparently wasn’t kidding when he said on social media he wasn’t going to wrestle CM Punk at Forbidden Door.

It looks like the battle over who gets to “claim” the Go to Sleep isn’t going to happen this weekend after all.

Fightful Select (subscription required) says it learned Kenta “expressed to NJPW and AEW that he isn’t facing CM Punk at the Forbidden Door show,” and that word began making the rounds last weekend at the premiere episode of AEW Collision.

Kenta has been pretty adamant on social media that he had no plans to wrestle CM Punk at the show in Toronto, so on one hand, this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Still, many fans hoped it was all part of the build when Kenta tweeted that Tony Khan would need to pay him a ton of money to appear, and that things would trend in that direction this week.

Fightful Select’s sources say that was indeed the plan, “but as of this weekend, it wasn’t happening.” That would seem to suggest Kenta won’t be on the card at all.

As for Punk, it would be a bit strange for AEW to make such a big deal about his return on Collision and then leave him out of a big event immediately in its wake. Fightful’s report noted that “there were other options being evaluated” for him; commenters on the article thought that perhaps the storyline with MJF threatening to no-show the event would play out and leave Punk to face Hiroshi Tanahashi — a match that was supposed to happen last year at Forbidden Door before Punk was injured.

Considering that Punk was protected on Collision by working in a six-man tag match, it also wouldn’t be a shock if AEW continued to be cautious and worked up another multi-person match for him — NJPW wrestlers are well accustomed to being part of six- and eight-man tags. That won’t quite have the same impact as Punk vs. Kenta would have for some hardcore wrestling fans, but just seeing Punk at Forbidden Door at all should be fine for the masses.

Is Kenta vs. CM Punk finally going to happen at Forbidden Door?

CM Punk and Kenta might be meeting at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in a battle of the Go to Sleep masters.

Who is the true master of the Go to Sleep? It sounds like we’ll find out at Forbidden Door. Maybe.

Kenta was the man who first popularized one very specific way to introduce someone’s face to your knee, but the move became much more well known as the finisher for CM Punk. It’s not like Punk didn’t acknowledge he “borrowed” the maneuver — he’s always admitted as much, and that by not renaming his version, it was an homage of sorts.

Yet the two men have had something of a social media rivalry over the years over it, leading fans to wonder if they’d ever settle Go to Sleep custody in the ring. Now that possibility appears closer than ever, with Fightful Select (subscription required) reporting that “the working plan” is for Kenta to have a match at Forbidden Door.

We’ll give you two guesses who the opponent would be.

For his part, Kenta still says he needs a boatload of money to face Punk, which is what he’s been tweeting even before this most recent report.

The two men have never faced off in a match, much less one on one, so there would be a natural level of intrigue from hardcore wrestling fans to see them do battle. Of course, Punk is arguably AEW’s most reliable mass appeal draw too, so finding a place for him on the Forbidden Door card is simply good business sense — particularly with AEW pushing him heavily as the anchor of AEW: Collision, which will debut in Chicago the weekend before Forbidden Door.

The card for the June 25 show has only two official matches announced so far, but they’re both dream bouts for many fans: a rematch between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay, and the first ever meeting between Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada. Punk-Kenta could arguably be just a tad below those two, but there’s no denying it would be an attractive addition if it comes together.

Wrestling Dontaku 2023 results: Sanada holds off Hiromu, faces new threat to end the show

The final five matches on the Wrestling Dontaku 2023 card are title bouts.

Sanada finally ascended to the top of the mountain in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time last month. Now one of his former mates from his LIJ days wants to make his reign a short one.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi will be the first challenger for Sanada when the two meet tonight in the main event of Wrestling Dontaku 2023 in Fukuoka. The always colorful Hiromu will be attempting to also win the top prize in NJPW for the first time, making hima  double champ if he pulls it off.

That’s not the only title on the line. In fact the last five matches on this card are championship bouts, with the Strong Openweight Championship and NJPW World Television Championship among those being defended. Two others stand out, however; one pits former longtime Bullet Club member Tama Tonga against the group’s latest leader, David Finlay, looking to claim Tonga’s NEVER Openweight Championship and validate his status as BC’s top dog.

The other is a titanic battle for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Reigning champs Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado and Ren Narita) will try to turn back a challenge from a star-studded trio composed of Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

The opening matches on the card are a mix of six-man and eight-man tag matches that ensure as many different members of the NJPW roster as possible are in the show. It should be an exciting night of wrestling from the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, and it kicks off at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT.

Wrestling Dontaku 2023 results:

(click on any match with a link for more details)

  • Chaos (Toru Yano, Yoh and Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi)) def. House of Torture (Evil, Yujiro Takahashi, Sho and Dick Togo) by pinfall, after which Aussie Open came out to repossess their tag team title belts and propose a three-way match with Bishamon and House of Torture
  • United Empire (Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) and Great-O-Khan) def. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Kosei Fujita) by submission as Great-O-Khan taps out Fujita; afterward Great-O-Khan cuts a promo saying neither Bishamon or House of Torture stand a chance against Aussie Open and that Jeff Cobb would defeat Zack Sabre Jr. later tonight
  • Shota Umino and The Jet Setters (Kushida and Kevin Knight) def. United Empire (Aaron Henare and Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP)) by pinfall when Kushida catches TJP with an inside cradle
  •  Just 5 Guys (Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Douki) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi and Bushi) by submission as Taichi gets Bushi to submit
  • A video plays to promote Best of the Super Juniors and show off the cards for May 12-24
  • Hikuleo def. KENTA by pinfall to become the new Strong Openweight Champion
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ends in a 15-minute time limit draw; Sabre retains the NJPW World Television Championship
  • Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) and Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado and Ren Narita) by pinfall to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions
  • Shota Umino reveals that Jon Moxley is returning at Dominion in June
  • David Finlay def. Tama Tonga by pinfall to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion …
  • .. but gets attacked by El Phantasmo after the match, and the two men need to eventually be pulled apart
  • Sanada def. Hiromu Takahashi by pinfall to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
  • The Godzilla-esque video promo that’s been running for weeks pays off with a reveal of a returning Yota Tsuji, who clears the ring, spears Sanada and holds up the IWGP title before laying it back across Sanada’s chest

NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 2 live results: Kenta and ZSJ collide

Check out NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 2 live results on July 17, 2022 from Sapporo.

G1 Climax 32 got underway on July 16, with the first four tournament matches (one in each block) providing some close, hard fought bouts and one surprise as well. Eight more competitors start their tournament journeys tonight, or more precisely, this afternoon in Sapporo.

Several of the matches were previewed thanks to the tag matches on the first night’s card. Among them were Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kenta, who couldn’t help but thrown down whether they were the legal men or not and kept up their war of words well after the three count.

Another pairing who got acquainted during Night 1 was Toru Yano and Jonah, though in their case it was less fighting and more running … on Yano’s part, naturally. Also on the slate for Night 2 are Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi, and in the main event, Shingo Takagi vs. Juice Robinson.

Thanks to an earlier start time, it’s not quite as late for U.S. fans who want to watch live on NJPW World, but if you aren’t able to catch the action yourself, please bookmark this page, as we’ll be updating it with the latest G1 Climax 32 Night 2 results as they happen.

G1 Climax 32 Night 2 quick results:

  • Tom Lawlor and Royce Isaacs vs. David Finlay and Yoshi-Hashi

Please scroll down for more detailed results after each match finishes.