AEW Reveals More Details on Interim Championship Eliminator Series

Last night’s episode of AEW Rampage didn’t exactly make the situation with the AEW World Championship clear. It wasn’t even immediately clear whether or not CM Punk, who is injured and will require surgery, would even relinquish the championship. Eventually, it was revealed that Punk would keep his title, but that an Interim AEW Champion would be crowned at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

To decide who would compete for the interim belt from AEW’s side, Excalibur informed viewers on commentary after Chris Jericho repeatedly incorrectly claimed that Punk had to relinquish the title that a battle royal will take place on AEW Dynamite this coming Wednesday, at the start of the show, with the winner facing Jon Moxley in the main event to earn the spot to compete for the title at Forbidden Door. But who would his opponent be? We had our own ideas about who it could be: MJF, recently “fired” by AEW and therefore free to compete as an NJPW star at the event.

That’s still technically possible if the storyline develops further, but as of now, that seems to be off the table. Instead, NJPW’s competitor will be either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto, as the pair will face off at NJPW Dominion next weekend, with the winner going on to Forbidden Door.

AEW also confirmed that CM Punk will face the Interim AEW Champion to unify the titles after he is medically cleared to compete again. Would it have been nice for AEW to get all the details straight before announcing Punk’s injury on AEW Rampage? Probably. But at least they’ve got it all worked now.

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is scheduled to take place on June 26th at the United Center in Chigaco. It will be broadcast on PPV, Bleacher Report, Fite TV, and NPW World.