New IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji Hints At Snubbing The Upcoming AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door Event

By: Lewis Carlan

The All Elite Wrestling/New Japan Pro-Wrestling/CMLL/STARDOM collaboration event Forbidden Door is two weeks away as it’s scheduled for June 28th in San Jose, California.

On June 14th, Yota Tsuji regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Callum Newman for the title at NJPW Dominion 2026 in front of nearly 7,000 fans at Osaka Castle Hall.

With his victory and becoming the leader for NJPW once again as it’s top champion, one would think Tsuji would be eager to head to Forbidden Door on June 28th to defend his newly won championship but this is not the case.

In an interview, as reported by Tokyo Sports, Tsuji indicated that he believes with a new era of NJPW beginning, they must protect the things NJPW must not lose.

From Yota Tsuji:

“With a new era beginning both inside and outside the ring, I think we have to be aggressive, and we wrestlers need to show something different from what we’ve done before. However, I believe we must firmly protect the things New Japan Pro-Wrestling must not lose.”

Tsuji then brought up the upcoming Forbidden Door event and hinted that he had no interest in participating much less defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

From Yota Tsuji:

“Look back at the past. Four-way matches, open challenges, retired wrestlers challenging for the title… Do you really think I’d participate in an IWGP match that’s treated this way at the FD? As the man who revived the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, I have to protect its value.”

While Forbidden Door will have a number of potentially good crossover bouts, fans should not expect Yota Tsuji on the event defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

As Tsuji has stated, he needs to protect and strengthen the IWGP Heavyweight Championship not dilute it.

(All English quote translations via Deepl.com)