Heading into Forbidden Door, there were two marquee matches that rose above the rest: Jon Moxley versus Hiroshi Tanahashi – which has now been confirmed – and “Hangman” Adam Page versus Kazuchika Okada versus maybe Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

The latter match, initially proposed by Page following his win over David Finlay on the Wednesday, June 8th edition of Dynamite felt like a massive step forward for “The Cowboy,” as instead of toiling away directionless following his AEW World Championship loss to CM Punk at Double or Nothing, he would instead be thrust into action against one of the best performers in New Japan History in a match few knew they wanted, but everyone suddenly wanted to see.

The Buckshot Lariat versus The Rainmaker? Yeah, that's some compelling television indeed.

However, as these things so often go, the chances of Page-Okada II took a massive dip coming out of NJPW's Dominion, at least if the former's goal is to put championship gold back around his waist. Why? Well, because Okada isn't the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion of New Japan Pro Wrestling; not anymore anyway. No, that honor now being to “King Switch” himself, “Switchblade” Jay White, who didn't sound particularly interested in securing a third win over Page in his very NSFW post-match presser that you can watch here if you feel so inclined.

Forbidden Door could feature the first shots of a Bullet Club Civil War in AEW.

When New Japan Pro Wrestling began their joint talent sharing agreement with Ring of Honor, it created an interesting dynamic within the ranks of Bullet Club. ROH-based wrestlers like Adam Cole and Adam Page joined The Club, unaffiliated wrestlers like Cody Rhodes followed suit in pursuit of being a part of the hottest faction in professional wrestling, and the American market opened up in a way that had largely been unavailable to New Japan up to that point.

Slowly but surely, a new faction emerged within the faction Prince Devit began all those years ago – a ‘sleeper cell faction,' to paraphrase Don Callis, if you will: The Elite.

Comprised largely of the founding EVPs of AEW, The Elite created a rift within the Bullet Club that eventually forced wrestlers to take sides, and a civil war between OGs like Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa and newcomers like Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, and The Jacksons began. This feud grew more and more contentious after Jay White beat Omega for the IWGP USA Championship – which saw Adam Page attempt to confront White before Omega interjected – and Rhodes began to feud with the Bullet Club's leader. Though this era of Omega's career is largely defined by his matches with Okada as the IWGP World Champion and the Bullet Club's feud with White's CHAOS faction, it also featured matches against Rhodes and other Bullet Club-versus-Bullet Club bouts like G.O.D. versus the Young Bucks.

So naturally, when the AEW-bound performers left Bullet Club for the waiting arms of Tony Khan, it only felt right that Bullet Club wouldn't allow them to leave unscathed. No, much like with Prince Devitt, A.J. Styles, and even Adam Cole before them, Omega and the Bucks were effectively kicked out of Bullet Club by its new leader, “King Switch.” Though members of the Bullet Club and The Elite have interacted since, with White seemingly siding with Adam Cole, ReDRagon, and the Young Bucks in his AEW debut, he wasn't particularly close with Omega during their overlapping tenure in Impact and, with gold now around his waist, it's clear the IWGP World Heavyweight champion isn't exactly holding back his true feelings in order to maintain tranquility.

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Whether he liked them before or just faked it for the cameras, it's clear Forbidden Door is NJPW versus AEW without Bullet Club playing both sides.

Will “Hangman” Adam Page finally earn a win, let alone a title shot, versus “Switchblade” Jay White? Will Adam Cole finally realize that Bullet Club isn't for life and that he was quite literally kicked out of the group by Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks before he took his talents to WWE and NXT? And what about Kenny Omega? After kicking him out of The Club all of those years ago, it's clear “The Cleaner” has a pretty big receipt to deliver to the new top guy in New Japan Pro Wrestling. With two weeks left before the Forbidden Door officially opens up at the United Center in Chicago, the build-up to AEW's biggest Pay-Per-View of the summer is going to be crazy.