Takahashi did not think All Star Junior Festival could happen in the USA.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is hosting AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2 on June 25th. At the first installment of the event in 2022, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi was scheduled to tag with Shingo Takagi, Sting and Darby Allin.
Takahashi had to pull out of the show due to a fever. In his backstage comments after NJPW Collision in Philadelphia, Hiromu stated that he would love to be at Forbidden Door 2.
Last year at AEW Forbidden Door, I was on the card for a fight. And I was tag teamed with really great fighters. But I got a fever, so I couldn’t go. But there will be another one this year, right? I think it will be in June, Forbidden Door. I’d love to be there.
The announcement of All Star Junior Festival USA was made after Hiromu and Tetsuya Naito’s match at Collision in Philadelphia.
Hiromu did not think All Star Junior Festival would be able to happen in the States but he had heard that Rocky Romero wanted to do it after seeing the first event. He added that they could not fly foreign talent into Japan for the first Junior Festival due to transportation costs.
I never thought we could do the All Star Junior Festival we did in Japan here in Philadelphia. I am sure Rocky did a great job with this, you know? I had heard that Rocky wanted to do it too after seeing the (first show). I really didn’t think it would be held here in Philadelphia. I’m so looking forward to it. Oh no, what kind of dream card will they put together?
We couldn’t invite foreign players in Japan. Why couldn’t we call them?… Well, it’s the transportation cost. It costs a lot. Yes, it costs a lot. Transportation costs and transportation costs. Transportation and transportation. And transportation costs. It’s a tough problem, you know? But if you can do it here in the U.S., you don’t have to worry about it. I’m in. Rocky, of course I’m going to be there. We’re on opposing teams, but we shook hands. Of course, Rocky, you chose to announce it after my match to get me out, didn’t you? I know. I’ll just look forward to it.
Coming up for Hiromu is an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match on May 3rd at Wrestling Dontaku. He’ll be challenging his former Los Ingobernables de Japon stable-mate SANADA for the belt.
