Shane showing up in AEW would be bad for both companies and wrestling in general. Especially if it's an invasion angle.

LOL if it's Mickie James. If ever there was a move that screeched "we're petty and have to constantly try to 1 up WWE and name drop them every 5 seconds so you'll look at us!" it's that one. Bringing her in down the line? Sure. But so soon after the fact would just be laughable to me.

That's why both of these things are absolutely going to happen, probably.

You know what I have a serious idea as to who it might be though that would make A LOT of sense and would prob make the fans interested. He's weirdly turned out to be one of the best heels currently in the business and him going after a title via a tournament fits perfect. It's Matt Cardona.

he fought cody for the tnt title already so certainly not unlikely but kinda underwhelming

which is part of the problem tony has created for himself

well i remembered it all wrong lol but he has been in AEW

The person that would make the most sense is Jeff Hardy right? I mean it's against an AHFO member, for a spot in a ladder match?

I have read Jeff isn't available til March, but what if that information is incorrect or Tony has found a way around it?

I think it's two debuts. Keith Lee or Jeff Hardy against Cassidy for a spot in the ladder match and then Jay White or Will Ospreay for the forbiddened door.

Khan shouldn’t have bothered using the forbidden door expression for this. It leads everyone to assume it’s a company AEW does business with and now he’s had to sorta twist the words around.

“Forbidden door doesn’t mean it’s a promotion we work with. This is someone who will be coming in, signing a contract and closing the door on their old promotion behind them.”

In other words, it’s a WWE signing. Which makes sense given a whole wave of non-competes just ended. But why use the forbidden door term? Just fucking say it’s a new signing who will be debuting and leave it at that.

The wording makes me think it is two different people..... Forbidden Door meaning someone from another company coming in to work for one night..... and then the other debut of a person coming there and signing on

The Forbiddened Door in AEW terms means NJPW. I think that the Impact deal and AAA deal were not "Forbidden". NJPW seemed to have heat with AEW in the beginning, even though all AEW fans really wanted was for the top NJPW guys to come to AEW and do their thing. Forbiddened Door is NJPW. I think it's going to be a top NJPW star that is in the states right now, possibly Jay White or Will Ospreay (recent twitter beef with Omega?). I wouldn't be surprised to see Tanahashi either but I am not really aware of the reality of that because I'm not following NJPW right now very closely. They do have an upcoming tour of the US so I think that they are sending a few stars for those shows and one of them is gonna work some AEW shots too.

Plus Keith Lee or Jeff Hardy which I think will be in the match with Cassidy to qualify for the Ladder match. I guess that Johnny Mundo could also be possible for that spot if he's available too. Can't imagine not having Mundo face Omega at some point if that is available.

Actually I'm going to predict that the Door opens for Will Ospreay. He is capable of walking into an AEW show an instantly being a superstar. He can cut a promo well enough to carry the story of why Omega and Ospreay is a dream match for Revolution. He will challenge Omega, Omega will then return a few weeks later to do the challenge accepted angle and they will work towards the PPV probably while building the tension with Adam Cole and his new friends, and possibly Ospreay beats Omega because of Adam Cole launching The Cole/O'Reilly/Fish feud with Omega & The Bucks.

Meanwhile Ospreay can carry his win back to Japan and work with Okada and PERHAPS Kenny returns to NJPW to beat Ospreay for another run there. Very fantasy I know but I can see it happening.

it's gonna be RVD you guys

It's Sting

It is the same person.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The big announcement for Wednesday’s Dynamite that we referenced on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWRampage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWRampage</a> (a free agent debut) and the person walking through the Forbidden Door are one and the same. They’re walking in the door, signing a contract, and then slamming the door shut Wednesday on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a>!</p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1489828043854131204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Forbidden Door can be opened for anyone from any wrestling promotion in the world, whether or not it’s a company <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEW</a> is on good terms with, even if it’s someone from a company that’s open for business. They’re also welcome to slam the door in the face of their prior company.</p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1489819394205270018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It's almost certainly a WWE signing.

Everyone associates Forbidden Door with NJPW, which is why he shouldn't have said it. Having to clarify what he meant by that is basically him backtracking since everyone assumed NJPW from the jump. I like Tony but sometimes he needs to think before he tweets.

The Forbidden Door can be opened for anyone from any wrestling promotion...... but does "unemployment" count as going through the Forbidden Door? More like losing your job and getting another one.

Lol @ errrrbody.

It's Juice Robinson. His contract with NJPW ended on January 31st and he is a free agent. Given those words he makes the most sense to me.

That's CJ Parker from NXT, right? I liked his heel pro-environment gimmick..... glad that the gimmick truly got the chance to shine when they gave it to a much more talented Daniel Bryan....

He went to NJPW after his NXT run and has become a pretty well regarded talent.

That isn't really a guarantee of being good anymore

I think he is still regarded as a decent talent.

Not particularly a talent I’m personally excited about but I don’t really get excited about a lot tbf.

It’s not forbidden door if it’s just some out of contract guy getting a new job. It’s the opposite of forbidden, it would just be sensible and practical lol.

It would be very TNA of them though to announce a TOP wrestler entering the FORBIDDEN door, only for said signing to be neither top or forbidden.

Fully expect that to happen.

I actually had no idea Juice was a free agent. I’ve been out of the loop with NJPW big time.

He is good.

But he's not a top guy.

He's no "The Juice" Juventud Guerrera

I give AEW a fraction of my hobby time. And I’d never take a cent for it out of principle. That’s not the slam you think it is.

Fucking yes!

By the way, talking about how talent are welcome to slam the door shut on their former employer is not only immature and tasteless, but it is almost definitely going to come back and bite Tony. Good.

Fed bad

Absolutely everyone on the planet is going to be underwhelming. Unless it’s maybe Steve Austin, The Rock or John Cena. Okada, Tanahashi, Jeff Hardy, Keith Lee — they all feel like pretty soft landings. Plus, whoever it is is signing a contract. So you know the New Japan guy is probably not going to be a top guy anyway.

What if Keith Lee is being repackaged as "The Forbidden Door" and his gimmick is that "no one can go through me", and he has a weekly "shoulder block" challenge where people try to knock him down but they just can't.

Lol yes! You have solved it. I would have absolutely no complaints!

Surely it’d be a Slam Challenge given Tony’s tweet?

No, see, the point is for him to be able to yell "no one gets through The Forbidden Door!!!!" at the top of his lungs as often as possible.

lol just saw the commercial on TBS. They said this is gonna be the Dynamite that changes everything. LOL.

Unless it's Shane McMahon there is no name out there worth that kind of hype. There just isn't. And it's not Shane. Maybe they consider Bray or Braun that big of a deal, but outside of one of them they are setting up everyone to be let down.

This will be the greatest night in the history of our sport!

Maybe Juice Robinson or someone like that, which would be disappointing... "forbidden door" stuff would be weird and wouldn't make sense if he's talking about a released WWE guy, but he has said some weird shit before

edit: Seph already said

John Cena might be worth that sort of hype. If TBS has put pressure on him to work with their WarnerMedia wrestling property. Very, very unlikely, but that would be worth this hype. But I don’t know why they would act like he is slamming the door in Vince’s face.

Even if it’s ALL the free agent talent out there — Keith Lee, Kevin Kross, Scarlett Bordeaux looking sluttier than ever, Athena, Mia Yim, Road Dogg to introduce The Ass Boys, Scott Armstrong to be a heel ref that screws over Page, Regal to join Danielson & Mox, Jeff Hardy to go into the Ladder Match, etc. — it’s still not going to be enough.

This company doesn’t learn.

smh if they're hyping it like that and it turns out to be Juice Robinson lol

I don't trust Tony Khan's hype anymore after he burned me hyping up Christian Cage so much