The AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event was one of the biggest collaborative efforts by two professional wrestling companies ever. While the biggest stars of NJPW came toe to toe against many prominent stars from AEW, a significant name was inexplicably missing.

The supershow featured top NJPW stars such as Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and Shingo Takagi. However, there was no mention or sighting of Tetsuya Naito.

The NJPW star recently acknowledged why he wasn’t on the show. Apparently he was never approached for the AEW X NJPW supershow, and he thinks because he wasn’t needed for it.

Naito took to writing in his NJPW Diary to reveal to his fans how he feels about it. He said that if he wasn’t invited, it clearly means that he wasn’t needed for it. Naito expressed his frustration, and revealed that he hasn’t even watched any footage of the show.

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Unfortunately I was not invited to the “AEW x NJPW” show that is being talked about all over the place. Not invited = not needed. Right? Because of that frustration, I haven’t watched any footage of this show. I’m genuinely upset about it,

The NJPW star’s exclusion is significant. He has held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship three times, while being the IWGP Intercontinental Champion a whopping six times. Tetsuya Naito is also extremely popular in NJPW. However, the star was recently in action in the latest New Japan Road event.

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Nitish Vashishtha

Nitish Vashishtha is a freelance writer/contributor from India. He’s written content for companies like ScoopWhoop and Sportskeeda. He’s been writing about pop-culture, current affairs and pro-wrestling since 2017.

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