Adam Cole Pulled From Forbidden Door Due To Illness

Adam Cole has hit yet another unfortunate bump in the road today as, due to illness, he will not be competing at today's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event. Tony Khan announced the news on Twitter that the match between Cole and NJPW Strong star Tom Lawlor is officially canceled. It remains to be seen whether the match will be replaced or if the show will move forward with one less bout on the card.

Cole's match against Tom Lawlor was made on Friday's episode of "AEW Rampage," when Lawlor and Royce Issacs attacked Cole during the Owen Hart Tournament winner's segment with AEW World Champion MJF. The soon-to-be partners in AEW's upcoming Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament remained at odds, and when Team Filthy went after Cole in the ring, MJF took his time to "aid" his unlikely partner in the ring.

This is not the first mishap for Cole when it comes to the annual AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event, with last year's show seeing the former ROH World Champion suffer a concussion during his fatal-four-way match against Kazuchika Okada, "Hangman" Adam Page, and Jay White for White's IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

Cole's absence also means that Tom Lawlor is unfortunately unlikely to be featured on the show in any capacity. The former UFC fighter has been a focal point of the American branch of New Japan Pro-Wrestling since NJPW Strong began in 2020. After his reign as the inaugural NJPW Strong Openweight Champion ended at the hands of Fred Rosser in May 2022, Lawlor went on to compete in the G1 Climax 32, ending with a 3-3 record to claim six points in block competition.