Tonight, ROH on HonorClub comes to us from Allentown, Pennsylvania! The card includes:

Six Man Tag Team Match The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno & John Silver) vs. Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn & Juice Robinson)

ROH Pure Title Proving Ground Match Lee Moriarty vs. Wheeler Yuta

ROH World Tag Team Title Proving Ground Match Komander & Metalik (w/Alex Abrahantes) vs. The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)

And more!

ROH starts at 7pm ET / 6pm CT only on Honor Club!

Tonight, TNA Impact comes to us from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! The card includes:

Singles Match Dani Luna vs. Jody Threat

Road To Slammiversary Qualifying Match Frankie Kazarian vs. Mike Santana

Singles Match Trey Miguel (w/Zachary Wentz) vs. Leon Slater

Road To Slammiversary Qualifying Match Joe Hendry vs. Jake Something

Tag Team Match Matt Hardy & Rebecca Hardy vs. Alisha Edwards & Eddie Edwards

And more!

TNA Impact! starts at 8pm EST | 5pm PST, please check your local listings for more information.

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tl;dr - Doing their own WrestleMania Weekend.

---

After the complete purchase of STARDOM by NJPW was finalised at the end of June, July 3 saw a press conference starring a pair of names seen at the head of many a pro-wrestling card; this time though, it was Okada alongside Tanahashi, and Taro Okada, President of STARDOM along with President Hiroshi Tanahashi delivering exciting news for the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

Wrestle Kingdom Week

・Sunday December 29 STARDOM, Ryogoku Sumo Hall

・Thursday January 2 Pro-Wrestling Matsuri, Bellesalle Haneda

・Friday January 3 Wrestle Kingdom 19 Kickoff venue TBA

・Friday January 3 STARDOM New Year Dream Tokyo Garden Theater

・Saturday January 4 Wrestle Kingdom 19 in Tokyo Dome

・Sunday January 5 Wrestle Dynasty in Tokyo Dome

・Monday January 6 New Year Dash!, Ota-ku Gymnasium

The main focus of the presentation was the announcement of Wrestle Kingdom Week. Starting at the end of December and running through the first week of January, Tanahashi promised that ‘NJPW and STARDOM will see wrestling dominate Tokyo through the start of the new year’. Tanahashi declared that the ‘key point of the week is to bring fans together across Japan, and around the world’

The first event of Wrestle Kingdom Week will be December 29, as STARDOM’s now traditional year end card in Ryogoku Sumo Hall will see the culmination of 2024’s action in grand style with what Okada described as ‘the biggest STARDOM event of the year’.

Okada announced that the first STARDOM matches of 2025 will take place Friday January 3 in the Tokyo Garden Theater in Ariake. STARDOM New Year Dream will see the venue host professional wrestling for the very first time for a hot start to the year.

The centerpiece of Wrestle Kingdom Week is Wrestle Kingdom weekend itself. On January 4, Wrestle Kingdom 19 hits the Tokyo Dome, while Wrestle Dynasty on January 5 will see representation from NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH and STARDOM.

To ensure fans from around Japan can travel to Tokyo and enjoy the matches from bell to bell, Wrestle Dynasty this year will start at 1PM JST. This allows for fans to watch live from overseas more easily as well, with an 11PM eastern, 8PM Pacific start time for the card.

There are also new viewing experiences on offer within the Tokyo Dome, with special premium sofa seats for groups of four as well as bench sofa family seats for the whole family to enjoy. On January 4, Tanahashi announced, new fans coming for the very first time will be drawn in to the limited number, low priced ‘Itsuzai’ seats for 1231 Yen (1,2,3,1 read ‘i tsu za i’ in reference to the Ace’s Japanese nickname).

Wrestle Kingdom Week doesn’t end with Wrestle Dynasty though as Tanahashi confirmed that New Year Dash will take place on January 6 in Ota Ward Gymnasium, kicking off NJPW’s 2025 in the promotion’s birthplace.

There are also two special satellite events before the Wrestle Kingdom Weekend. On January 2, Pro-Wrestling Matsuri returns. The fan festival this year will take fans travelling in to Japan into especial consideration, emanating from Bellesalle Haneda connected to the international terminal at Haneda Airport. Stars from NJPW and STARDOM will be on hand for this very special event.

Then, January 3 will see the Wrestle Kingdom 19 kickoff event, with details on both days to be announced soon.

Historic X-Over 2

As previously announced, Historic X-Over 2 will see NJPW and STARDOM collaborating on a major cross over card for the first time in two years on November 17. This time it will be Osaka’s EDION Arena hosting what is sure to be a memorable event.

On the IWGP Committee

Tanahashi also announced steps for the reorganization of the IWGP governing body for title matches and tournaments within NJPW. The IWGP Committee, composed of former IWGP Champions as well as NJPW executives will have further announcements soon about their commitment to wrestlers and officiating in NJPW events.

In closing, both Okada and Tanahashi promised that both NJPW and STARDOM will grow to unforeseen heights together.

In a digital exclusive, Will Ospreay recalled asking Hayabusa's daughter for her blessing to wear a famous Hayabusa mask in 2022, and he said it was only right to do it again at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024.

>"Back in 2022, I took out the daughter of Hayabusa and I asked for her blessing to adorn a very famous Hayabusa mask. I don’t know what their relationship was, I don’t know if she was a bit sad about the wrestling community, maybe? But I just wanted to make sure that I got the blessing for it. I took her out, and she gave me the blessing. The family all wrote in, they said that they’re so happy for me to adorn the mask. So I did it in Japan. It's only right that I do it at Forbidden Door, with the crossover event. This is about celebrating wrestling culture, right? Well, this is the culture that got me into professional wrestling. So I can’t be happier. I hope I do ‘em proud," Ospreay said.

Tonight, AEW Dynamite brings us Beach Break 2024, live from Chicago, Illinois! Your card will be:

Owen Hart Foundation 2024 Men's Tournament Quarter Final Match Jeff Jarrett vs. ???

Owen Hart Foundation 2024 Women's Tournament Semi Final Match Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander (w/Stokely Hathaway)

Owen Hart Foundation 2024 Men's Tournament Semi Final Match Bryan Danielson vs. PAC

AEW International Title Match Will Ospreay (c) vs. Daniel Garcia

And more!

Show starts at 8pm EST | 5pm PST, please check your local listings for more information.

>There was a lot of praise internally for the Mercedes Moné vs. Stephanie Vaquer bout within AEW, specifically for Vaquer getting over so strongly with the live crowd in NYC for her work. We are told that Moné went into the bout with the express goal of "making" Vaquer and that even with Vaquer getting into town late as she didn't arrive until the afternoon of the PPV (most were in the night before), the feeling was that they hit the goal.

>The story that George Clooney sent Moné a bottle of tequila at the PPV was 100% legitimate.

Jonathan Coachman gives a legendary John Cena story.

John Cena is touted as the GOAT by WWE given his title reigns and overall importance to the history of the company. Cena is a 16-time WWE/World Heavyweight Champion, and Jonathan Coachman had a front row seat for the majority of Cena's career.

Appearing on The Angle podcast, Coachman was asked about Cena winding down his career.

>"I don’t want this to come off as disrespectful, because at some point I’m going to run into Ric Flair again and he takes this stuff very personally. At the end of the day, I could be a seventeen-time world champion if they so chose to give it to me. So to me, that record means nothing. The kind of person he is, the way he went about it, the way he trained every single day in the gym. We had a trip overseas, it was ten shows in ten days. Ric Flair talked him into drinking alcohol, because that world champs have got to do. He literally drank every single night, closed the bar down, paid the bar tab. I asked him on day nine how much he spent, he said $35,000. I said, ‘Dollars?’ He said, ‘Pounds.’ It’s two to one, so it was $70,000 he spent on alcohol just because he’s the world champion. Now, don’t feel sorry for him, he was making 50 to 100 grand every night in the main event. But the last night, Dean Malkeno walks up to him, beer in hand, whispers something in his ear. He puts the beer down, heads straight for the elevator, says nothing to nobody and disappears. Dean Malkeno had just told him, ‘Tomorrow night, you’re going sixty minutes with Shawn Michaels on Monday Night Raw.’ Out of respect for the effort of what he was doing, I stood at the gorilla position for him to walk back down. He walked towards me, you could smell the alcohol coming out his pours, but he gave sixty minutes absolute banger. So, I really don’t care if he gets to 17. If it means something to him, then I do care. If that’s a record or number he wants, awesome," said Coachman.

Michaels and Cena went nearly an hour on the April 23, 2007 episode of WWE Raw.

Coachman continued:

>“He’s doing what everyone should do. I was ringside for Ric Flair’s retirement against Shawn Michaels. One of the great lines of all time, I’m sorry, I love you. That should’ve been the end, but then he had another one and another one. It’s very hard for people to leave the business. I’ll go back two or three times, but I’m not Ric Flair or John Cena. I think John Cena realizes that his body is beat up and that you can only look that good for so long and you don’t wanna go out there and have wrinkles on the muscles when you were in that kind of shape for twenty years. So, I think his movie career is good enough, his voiceover career is good enough, I think he’s in a new relationship or fairly new. I just think he’s ready to move on.”

Asked if WWE would give Cena a 17th title reign, Coachman replied:

>"Will they give it to him? I doubt it because it just wouldn’t make a lot of sense to me with all of these other top talents that are vying for that position right now"

Cena has said that he hopes to return to WWE for one last run after Christmas.

>He wanted to lead by example that anyone should be good losing to the world champion, as well.

“We have been told they were in talks with AEW/ROH about coming in. I believe that they are signed, but I have not been given that confirmation as of yet.”

• Contract expired today and could not appear at Forbidden Door.
• WWE and AEW sources both expect him to join AEW.
• Is not planned to face Will Ospreay at All In.

Those who watched the PPV already know but for those who don't: This year the 2nd night of WrestleKingdom has been announced to be a new event: Wrestle Dynasty, an inter-promotional production with NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH and STARDOM, at the Tokyo Dome!

Roderick/Gabe | Nitter Willow/Tam | Nitter Stat/Stoke | Nitter Toni/Mina/Mariah | Nitter Penta/Rey/Mistico - Spanish promo | Nitter

Edit: Ospreay | Nitter

Video for the scrum, if preferred

Welcome to PWInsider.com's ongoing coverage of AEW's Forbidden Door 2024 post-PPV media scrum live from Belmont, Long Island!

Renee Paquette welcomed AEW TBS & NJPW Strong Women's Champion Mercedes Mone and AEW President Tony Khan.

Young asked Mone what she learned wrestling Stephanie Vaquer tonight. She said she could not believe her whole year. She was supposed to come for the Strong title last year and felt like she was in the Upside Down in Stranger Things. Then she came to AEW, won the TBS Champion and is now the double champ. Vaquer is the greatest luchador she has ever been in the ring with but she still won. She claimed George Clooney sent her a huge bottle of tequila to celebrate. Tony Khan joked it was too early to have tequila in the scrum.

Mone said a "b**ch" came out to ruin her party, but she will party all night long and questioned who Britt Baker thought she was. She was the first woman signed to AEW but Mone is the biggest free agent to sign here. Any woman who wants to try her can come on this Wednesday on Dynamite.

Mone talked up wanting to fight the best in the world, which led to Khan talking about the competitors in the company.

Mone was asked about training in Mexico and having the chance to have a "legit" lucha match. Mone said everyone knows her favorite wrestler of all time is Eddy Guerrero and she grew up watching Rey Mysterio. She said it felt amazing to go and train all over with Mexico with Ricky Marvin, Juventud Gurrera, Skayde and Bandido to prepare for any luchador who steps in the ring with her. She stated she was now the greatest luchador.

Mone said it was her fourth match in the company and she feels better than ever. She said she felt she was just getting started.

Zack Sabre Jr. was next. He was asked what was next for him after beating Orange Cassidy at the PPV. He noted it was his first AEW PPV victory. He said he knew Orange Cassidy was cool ten years ago before "all of you" saying he was losing his mind watching Cassidy then on Northeastern independents. If anyone disregards how talents Cassidy is, "they are a f***ing idiot." Sabre said they have the G1 Climax in three weeks and it's the most important tournament in all of wrestling and his goal is to reach the top of NJPW, not as a foreigner, but to be at the top and to carry it into the future.

Sabre said he was happy with the match and it's what it should have been. Cassidy wasn't just keeping up with him, he was right there with him. He said that story is over.

Sabre was asked about being the face of the UK style. He said he debuted in 2002 in a weird time for UK wrestling. It had lost television and said he was lucky that he was trained by Andre Baker's Hammerlock Wrestling School, where Finn Balor and Becky Lynch and others were trained and he was fortunate to be at that school. The training was solely British wrestling and he wrestles that way because it's the style that inspires him the most. His goal isn't to be a retro wrestler because had British wrestling remained on TV, it would have evolved. He wants to do a modern version and not just be trapped in what it was before. H said AEW changed pro wrestling because now there's a big promotion that admires and respects professional wrestling. He praised the main event. He said it was special because everyone invested in their characters and then the crazy match was a bonus.

Sabre said the Forbidden Door was Forbidden but now it's naughty. It was unparalleled that there were four companies that are completely intertwined. He will wrestle Hechichero at Rev Pro in London before All In. He was just in CMLL. MJF wrestled Hechichero. Who knows what will happen next?

Sabre was coy about where he might wrestle Bryan Danielson again and commented they need to have at least one more match in UK before looking at Tony Khan. He wrestled Danielson when Bryan didn't know who he was in the UK and he can't pay back Bryan enough for the confidence he instilled in Sabre.

AEW Women's Champion Toni Storm was next. She read a "ditty" she claimed to have written this AM. It was America the Beautiful with the line about botherhood changed to "sisterhood." She invited STARDOM's Mina Shirakawa to the stage. She presented her with a foam Statue of Liberty crown and they danced and did some shenanigans. Toni then declared she had no time for questions as that was OK because they were "probably sh**" anyway.

AEW Champion Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana were next. Strickland said tonight was humbling but was also about proving everyone wrong yet again. He said that his entire career, people had expectations of him and he had to keep breaking through the ceiling. He and Will had chips on their shoulders to prove AEW was special and they are competitive. Strickland said he wants to get into opponent's heads and that's what got him the win tonight. He said there will be more questions coming tomorrow and Dynamite and All in.

On what he and Ospreay said after the match, Strickland said that he told him he loves him and he was something special.

Strickland was asked if he was still gunning for Bryan Danielson. He said Danielson is gunning for him and he wants the win back, saying the loss to Danielson is something that bothers him as they are both Pacific Northwest guys. Renee asked who else is on the list and Strickland said, "You know."

On getting fans invested, Strickland said he really wants to get to the bone of what means something to people. He wants to get to what you are fighting for and what's in your heart. He said that made th Hangman Page feud work. He wants to see what's at the heart of Daniel Garcia. Seeing all these layers to MJF over the years, what is he fighting for now that he's lost the title. How will Will Ospreay respond tonight. There are a lot of things to be revealed and a lot to be revealed about their character in the days to come.

Swerv praised the team that has helped him evolve into the "mogul" in wrestling, whether it be his media appearances, his fight training, the appearances of hip hop stars like Jim Brown tonight and more.

On whether the main event exceeded his expectations, he said it did because of the people. His expectations are low until the people bring it to something more than he thought it was. He said the people made it. He said it was a long card and you hope there's energy left for you and it could go either way. He said that criticism doesn't matter because the people who were there were into it and it makes you at home wish you were there and want to see what happens with Swerve and what will happen next with Will. He said it's gratifying to have a Black World Champion in the main event of this and to see this style and stiff level of competition at this level. He's proud and fortunate and ready to keep working.

It was down to Renee and Tony Khan. He said he's probably had 10 cups of coffee.

Khan said they had over 11,000 paid fans and over a $1 million live gate tonight.

Khan was asked about the 1/5/25 Wrestle Dynasty event in Tokyo. He said it'll be a big week in Japan for Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty. He said ROH and AEW will both be involved. They will start a new year in 2025 and they are going to work with New Japan and support them and all their international partners that week.

Kimmy Sokol asked about ROH taping in Arlington. Khan retained all the recent ROH developments and said he was excited about the Arlington tapings.

Renee Young plugged the Brodie Lee sneakers coming out tomorrow. Khan said Amanda Huber has some really nice words on the PPV pre-show and he's excited to work with them to push the launch of the shoe. The greatest AEW TNT Champion will always be Brodie Lee and he's excited to celebrate Jon Huber.

Khan said it's a dream come true to go back to Wembley and try to do this back to back. It's a really bold play and they are off to a great start on tickets. He felt it was a smart move going earlier with ticket sales this year.

Khan asked if there would be more collaboration for sneakers or Westside Gunn collabs for shirts. He said Gunn has been a big supporter of AEW and anytime he can participate, Khan loves it. He said he's Team AEW and it's been great stuff. They've had great collaborations with Reebok and he'd like to continue those as well. They are great partnerships and crossovers for AEW.

Khan was asked if Brody King was OK after the rough brainbuster from Tomohiro Ishii. King is OK but it was a scary move. He will be able to keep wrestling.

Khan was asked what he learned from the international partnerships. Khan praised the relationships and went over a lot of the crossovers.

Khan was asked about the idea of running Puerto Rico and whether a TV or a PPV would be best. It would be great to run PR and going there would be a new milestone for the promotion.

Khan was asked about the potential of a super heavyweight division. He said it's something to think about, noting watching Samoa Joe and Jeff Cobb facing off has been a lot of fun. Anytime we can get the 'big men" fighting, he loves it.

Khan said is excited about the Warner partnership and will be hitting the 250th episode of Dynamite soon.

Khan said the PPV#s, based on digital numbers, were fantastic. He doesn't know cable or satellite numbers yet. He believes this will be their record year for PPV buys. Three years in a row, Forbidden Door did three years of great business.