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The wrestling world was rocked a little over two months ago when the seemingly unthinkable. For nearly forty years, as Vince McMahon ran the WWE, so too went the wrestling industry. Now, pun intended, the real Game begins. With Triple H as the Head Of Creative, slight changes have already begun.
Could perhaps the biggest and craziest change come soon too? While the Forbidden Door has certainly been open from time to time in the WWE, no real and influential cross-promotional event has ever occurred. It’s currently unknown if that will ever come to fruition, after all Triple H is currently still putting his pieces into places of his regime. But if the recent string of A&E specials are any indication, there might be a good chance that the promotional wall is set to come down one day.
With A&E Shows And Commentary References, There Are Dents In WWE's Forbidden Door
Over the past several months, WWE had partnered with cable channel A&E for the second season of Biography, as well as a new show called Rivals, and a recap show, Smack Talk. Certain superstars can’t have their stories told, without best friends, brother, former colleagues, and bosses helping to tell the story. AEW’s Jim Ross is all over practically every episode. Christian and Big Show showed up during Edge and Rey Mysterio’s specials, as well as Konnan.
Obviously these aren’t matches, buts it’s definitely a start to acknowledge that the wrestling industry isn’t just WWE, and some integral people to these stories might no longer be employed by WWE. Even wilder is the commentary during certain matches. At SummerSlam, Michael Cole alluded to the busy weekend Jeff Jarrett was having, without saying he was working Flair. Just recently at Clash At The Castle, without mentioning the name of the promotion, Cole spoke about the faction that Iyo Sky and Asuka were once a part of. These appearances and casual references make the wrestling world seem even bigger.
Kofi Kingston Is Among Those Who Wants To Break Down WWE's Forbidden Door
While New Japan and AEW have a huge working relationship with each other, leading to the Forbidden Door event, chances are WWE would be far more nuanced if they ever did business in the ring together. Triple H had recently said that changes he’s making are going to be gradual, so if and when an actual AEW / WWE angle is ever crafted wouldn’t be for a while.
But certainly the superstars have shown interest. Kofi Kingston has been one of those stars to express interest. With The Game at the helm, certainly former NXT alum that are part of AEW might want to once again work with Triple H. At the moment, it is clear that Triple H is more focused on his WWE, and anyone he wants to work with on the outside, he has been hiring back into the fold.
Would WWE And AEW Ever Work Together?
First and foremost, the WWE is not going to enter any kind of metaphorical door if it were to make them look bad. However, recently Tony Khan has been acting like a bit of a cad. When the news of Vince McMahon stepping down came out, he tweeted that he was now the longest running CEO of a wrestling company. He also feels that representatives from WWE are talking to AEW contracted performers. He has stated that he was once optimistic about the idea, but thanks to how the WWE recently has treated him, he doubts it will truly happen.
While the likelihood of this all happening is a little more foreseeable with Vince gone, there still needs to be storyline reasons for this to make sense. Triple H and company really have no reason to risk injury to his roster or perhaps even worse - AEW making them look bad. The collision would certainly be a fan’s dream, and perhaps one day, maybe they’re will be a talent exchange - Adam Cole shows up at The Royal Rumble and Kevin Owens reignites his feud with Jericho. Like a lot of other aspects of WWE nowadays, the mere fact that fans can speak about these kinds of possibilities is one of the most exciting aspects of the WWE itself.