Tony Khan Names The Most Challenging PPV AEW Has Ever Put Together

AEW President Tony Khan has now had a few years to dabble in the pay-per-view business, but there's one event in particular that proved to be the most challenging. During an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Khan revealed which PPV stands above the rest in terms of difficulty.

"I think Forbidden Door was the most challenging pay-per-view we've ever put together," Khan said. "People don't know half of the stories about the challenges. It was really pushing and pulling to get the wrestlers from New Japan sooner than they were originally scheduled to arrive. New Japan worked with me and we got Will Ospreay and Tanahashi in a little earlier than planned. Nobody will know the full plans, but I've publicly admitted there were some really cool matches that had to change in the build to Forbidden Door and that changed the rest of the summer."

"Forbidden Door," a crossover PPV event featuring AEW and NJPW talent, was held inside the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on June 26. The event was headlined by an Interim AEW World Heavyweight Championship match between Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The show also featured the AEW debut of Claudio Castagnoli, who was known as Cesaro during his time with WWE. Elsewhere, Jay White put the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Kazuchika Okada, Hangman Page, and Adam Cole in a four-way match.

Ultimately, "Forbidden Door" was considered a success. The show surpassed expectations in terms of PPV buys and was able to sell out the United Center quickly. The show's success is impressive considering some top stars such as Bryan Danielson and CM Punk were unable to perform due to injuries.