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The wrestling world continues to evolve over time and AEW has spearheaded this with its most recent PPV, Forbidden Door. Named after the proverbial "forbidden door" that exists between competing wresting promotions, AEW decided to open the forbidden door by co-hosting a PPV with New Japan Pro Wrestling. This was a major development in professional wrestling, with AEW representing the #2 American wrestling promotion and NJPW the #1 Japanese wrestling promotion in the world. To put aside their differences in the name of the business and appeasing the dreams of wrestling fans is something that no one could have imagined. As a result, wrestling fans were quick to wonder if the #1 wrestling promotion in the world, WWE, would follow suit and also have a special co-promoted PPV. Unlike NJPW and AEW, WWE is the leader of professional wrestling and has been for many years now, so the decision to open the forbidden door is a more difficult decision for WWE to make.
RELATED: Tony Khan Boasts Big Numbers For AEW's Forbidden Door Pay-Per-View
Pros: Shock Value And Excitement
Let us be real, WWE is a sports entertainment company that appeases to major backers like Fox and the major investors of its stock. As such, television ratings, social media presence, and Peacock subscribers are the bread and butter for good business. Based on how AEW's Forbidden Door PPV was treated, WWE should consider hosting its own forbidden door to boost television ratings for Raw and SmackDown leading up to the special PPV, along with the increased buzz on all their social accounts as a side effect. While WWE has already created a large universe for the fans to immerse themselves in, the reality is that fans are smart and have knowledge of rival wrestling promotions and the wrestling stars that carry said promotions. If they heard the news that a top WWE superstar like Seth Rollins is going to have a match with an NJPW star like Kazuchika Okada, it will garner a ton of intrigue and interest from fans, especially those that may have lost faith in the WWE product over the years.
RELATED: AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door Was Pro Wrestling At Its Best
Cons: Giving The Spotlight To Competition
On the flip side, WWE is a sports entertainment company whose sole purpose is to make a profit, so sharing the spotlight with a rival business could do more harm than good. If you expose WWE fans to an opposing wrestling product like NJPW, with its strong style and unique performers, you run the risk of losing fans to NJPW. While it is possible that fans will simply watch both wrestling shows after the forbidden door has closed, some fans may be restricted on the amount of time they can allocate each week to watching professional wrestling. If they were already hesitant about the WWE product, then got exposed to NJPW, they may drop WWE entirely and start to follow NJPW's wrestling instead. Despite the short-term buzz generated from working with NJPW, WWE would be at a loss in the long term if fans stopped watching their product in favor of the competitor they got exposed to.
Pros: Acquiring New Fans
This might be the deciding factor as to why WWE should consider a forbidden door PPV; acquiring new fans from rival wrestling promotions. As a global brand, one of WWE's goals is to spread the product across the world into territories. While WWE has a foothold in countries like the United States and a presence in countries like the United Arab Emirates and India, they still need to find a way to break into Japan. What better way to introduce Japanese wrestling fans to the WWE product than by pitting their favorite NJPW wrestlers against the cream of the crop of WWE wrestlers. In addition, WWE can fly over specific wrestlers to Japan to appear on NJPW's programing and do fan events to give them a chance to meet WWE wrestlers in person. Ultimately, some NJPW fans will be persuaded by what they see to try the WWE product after the forbidden door is closed, and some will stay for the long haul, which is the whole point of WWE hosting a forbidden door PPV; to spread their wrestling product to gain new fans and increase the size of the WWE Universe.
Based on the current landscape, there is only one clear candidate for WWE to host a forbidden door event with, NJPW. Impact wrestling is largely based in the United States and is too small, and AEW is the #2 American promotion and the main rival of WWE. NJPW has a well-established presence in Japan, is large, and should be easy to do business with because they also have something to gain from a working relationship with WWE.
