Hiroshi Tanahashi Beats Goto, will Face Moxley at Forbidden Door

Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi AEW NJPW Forbidden Door
Image Credits – AEW

Hiroshi Tanahashi has defeated Hirooki Goto at NJPW Dominion 6.12 to qualify for the Interim AEW World Championship match at AEW*NJPW Forbidden Door PPV.

Tanahashi was originally in plan to face AEW World Champion CM Punk at Forbidden Door. He came out in answer to Punk’s challenge to NJPW on Dynamite episode of June 1, 2022. It looked like Punk vs Tanahashi will main event the PPV after all.

However, Punk got injured during the same Dynamite episode and got sidelined due to a surgery. AEW then announced a mini-tournament to crown an interim champion. Kyle O’Reilly won the Battle Royal to face #1 contender Jon Moxley in the eliminator match from AEW’s side. Moxley won that match to fix his spot in the interim title match. From NJPW’s side, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto clashed at NJPW Dominion 6.12 in the other eliminator.

Tanahashi went into this match with 10-1 record over Goto in singles match during their entire career. Goto gave Tanahashi a stiff challenge, but Tanahashi was able to counter Goto late in the match with a slingblade and followed up with a crossbody and a frog splash to get the pin. Moxley vs Tanahashi match will headline Forbidden Door PPV.

There is a bit of history between Moxley and Tanahashi as well. Moxley has earlier accused of Tanahashi of running away from him. They were earlier part of fatal 4-way IWGP US Heavyweight title match at NJPW Capital Collison event.

Dominion 6.12 also saw Jay White defeating Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Also, Karl Anderson won the NEVER Openweight title from Tama Tonga and United Empire’s Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb won the tag team titles by beating Bullet Club’s Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens.

Keep tuned in for more news and updates from the pro-wrestling world.

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