The big story coming out of last night’s AEW Rampage was that world champion CM Punk had broken his foot, and will be out of action for some time as he recovers from surgery. The Chicago Made man broke the news in front of the live crowd of Ontario California with tears in his eyes, but promised to come back stronger than ever.
Despite his injury Punk will not be relinquishing the title, and instead an Interim world champion would be crowned at the June 26th Forbidden Door pay-per-view in Chicago. While there was some confusion during the broadcast as to how exactly this would happen, AEW provided the full details in a press release that dropped earlier today.
An eliminator series will be held.
This week’s Dynamite will open up with a battle royal matchup featuring all AEW talents. The winner of the battle royal will face the #1 ranked Jon Moxley in the main event of that very same episode of Dynamite, with the winner of that match advancing to the main event of Forbidden Door. This replaces the previously scheduled CM Punk vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi bout.
However, Tanahashi still has an opportunity to be in the Forbidden Door main event. The Ace will take on Hirooki Goto in an eliminator singles-matchup at NJPW’s Dominion pay-per-view on June 12th. The winner of that bout will advance to the main event of the Forbidden Door, where they will face the AEW competitor.
Whoever is victorious in the main event of Forbidden Door will be crowned the new AEW interim world champion.
Check out the full press release below.
