Tony Khan Wanted Yota Tsuji In AEW Title Match At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024

Tony Khan was eager to utilize Yota Tsuji in a significant capacity at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024. However, other trusted voices in AEW felt there was a better path forward for his penciled-in opponent, Swerve Strickland.

Swerve Strickland was the AEW World Champion at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024.
Heading into his second pay-per-view as World Champion, Strickland ended up fighting Will Ospreay at the event. However, there was a plan for him to fight one of the rising faces of NJPW, Yota Tsuji.

Tony Khan explained on a media call before the 2025 Forbidden Door that he wanted to use Tsuji in the world championship match and enjoys Tsuji’s work a lot. However, others felt that it would be better for Strickland to face a more-established wrestler, and Ospreay was given the nod.

“Last summer, I was looking at using someone who is not available at all this year, who I would have loved to use on the card, but he’s not available to come at all. It’s not like he wasn’t available for the TV, he wasn’t available to come at all. That’s Yota Tsuji. I think he’s an excellent pro wrestler. He participated in the event in the past, but I would have liked to have use him more. Last year, I had maybe envisioned a bigger role for him. I had considered him possibly as a title challenger for Swerve Strickland. A few people said to me, ‘He’s a great wrestler, but no matter how much we do on TV for a champion like Swerve, we think a more established wrestler, even if it’s not a New Japan wrestler, might be the best thing for Forbidden Door.’ I think they were right. Will Ospreay himself said, ‘I think I’d be a great challenger for Swerve and maybe it would help the event more if you’re interested in that even if it’s outside the traditional way we’ve done Forbidden Door.’ I thought about it and I thought it was right and I made the choice to do it. I think it was the right thing to do.”

Strickland will face Kazuchika Okada this year for the AEW Unified Title.

Check out the full card for the upcoming AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event here.

Should you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Fightful with an H/T linking back to this article.