Hiroshi Tanahashi stunned the wrestling world when he answered CM Punk’s challenge on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. The AEW World Championship match was set for the upcoming Forbidden Door crossover event with New Japan Pro Wrestling until Punk announced that he is injured and needs surgery. A special series of matches to determine an interim champion was soon announced.

The last major NJPW event before Forbidden Door is Dominion. Tanahashi was not originally scheduled to be on the card. Now, he will take on Hirooki Goto with the winner facing a t0-be-determined AEW opponent for the interim AEW title at Forbidden Door.

While discussing the glut of recent injuries to major stars, Dave Meltzer talked about how even NJPW had to make some changes. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, he pointed out that Hiroshi Tanahashi was not originally scheduled for the NJPW Dominion event on June 20th. CM Punk’s injury forced their hand since Tanahashi vs CM Punk for the AEW World Championship won’t happen.

“I don’t know this, but I’m wondering if maybe this was taken off of Dominion because the Tanahashi and Goto match was not originally on the Dominion card. That was a[n] add at the literal last minute because of the injury to CM Punk. Tanahashi was actually not on the Dominion card. Neither of them were.”

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The winner of the match between Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi will qualify for the interim AEW World Championship match at Forbidden Door. AEW will hold a battle royal on Wednesday’s Dynamite. That winner will face Jon Moxley to determine who moves on to the title match.

There have been a lot of moving parts around the wrestling world due to injuries lately. Fans who weren’t planning to see Hiroshi Tanahashi perform at Dominion will get a bonus. That wasn’t always the plan, but after Punk’s injury, everything had to be reworked.

What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments!

Transcription by Ringside News

Tags: CM Punk
Michael Perry

Michael Perry is a news contributor for Ringside News and Thirsty for News. Michael has an M.A. in Communication Technology from Point Park University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

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