Interim AEW World Champion To Be Crowned At Forbidden Door PPV
In the aftermath of CM Punk announcing an injury, AEW announced Friday night that an interim AEW World Champion will be crowned at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26.
This coming Wednesday's "Dynamite" will kick off with a battle royal and the winner will wrestle Jon Moxley in the main event to crown a new No. 1 contender. The winner will then presumably wrestle Hiroshi Tanahashi to crown an interim AEW World Champion at Forbidden Door, though that hasn't been officially announced.
The new interim champion will then wrestle Punk at a later date in a title unification match whenever Punk returns from injury.
During his emotional speech on "Rampage," Punk confirmed that he has to undergo surgery to fix an injury. Although he didn't specify the nature of the injury, he had a noticeable limp during an off-camera segment with MJF earlier this week on "Dynamite."
"So, here's the bad news – I'm injured and need surgery," Punk said. "A couple of things are broken. The biggest one is my heart because I love nothing more than to perform for all of you, and I wanted to go on one hell of a run. That's the bad news.
"The good news is, I can still do all that. I told you I was going to go till the wheels fall off, and the wheels are still there, they haven't fallen off. It's just that one of them happens to be broken. I've come back from worse, I've felt better than I feel today, but I'm also here to tell you that I've felt a hell of a lot worse."
Punk was scheduled to defend his title against Tanahashi at Forbidden Door.
#AEWDynamite Battle Royale winner will face @JonMoxley for a shot at the Interim AEW World Championship 👀 pic.twitter.com/QBcCHIswSc
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) June 4, 2022
A battle royal opens Dynamite where the winner faces Jon Moxley in the main event of Dynamite to become the number one contender for the interim title that will be decided at forbidden door against a yet unnamed challenger. Presumably Tanahashi since he was already in line. pic.twitter.com/hjscvVLh7O
— JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) June 4, 2022
THIS WEDNESDAY on #AEWDynamite at 8/7c on TBS, we'll kick things off with a Battle Royale to determine who faces #1 contender @JonMoxley in the Dynamite main event. The winner of Dynamite's main event goes on to #ForbiddenDoor to challenge for the Interim #AEW World Championship! pic.twitter.com/xWqt9q1BlO
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 4, 2022