AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Recap and review

It’s Sunday morning and you know what that means! It’s time for some rasslin! Today myself and my kitty are going to review and rate all 11 matches from AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Before we get to the main show, we have some preshow matches to get us and the crowd in attendance warmed up. So let's tape up our tits and let’s tango as we begin our spoiler filled recap and match ratings for Forbidden Door.

Pre-Show

Match #1: Paragon/El Desperado/Yuya Uemura def. CRU/DCF

In traditional NJPW style, the show starts with multiple multi-person tag matches. Heels are out first with Lio Rush and Action Andretti hitting the ring. Don Callis then comes out to introduce Josh Alexander and to once again announce Yo soy Hechicero. El Desperado comes out followed by Paragon followed by Yuya. They all pose at the entrance way then make their way to the ring as a group. As with all of these types of matches, everyone gets in at some point and does some stuff before tagging out. Lots of fun sequences throughout this match from Cru and Paragon. Yuya gets the pin on Lio rush with a double underhook bridging suplex. Overall, a fun match, but these 8-10 person tags will always have a concrete ceiling of how good they can be. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆. After the match, the heels beat down the faces, before my stone pitbull and yours Tomohiro Ishii comes down to whoop some ass. He stands face to face with Lance Archer and they do a little sequence that ends with Ishii hitting a brainbuster on the big guy. Roddy Strong drags Kyle out of the ring before they can celebrate. Ishii celebrates with Despy and Yuya.

Match #2: GOA/ Ricochet def. Jetspeed/ Michael Oku:

Heels out first, then Oku comes out to a big reaction. Jetspeed comes out to join him. Man, I fucking love Jetspeed. At this point the venue is filling up nicely and looks great on TV. Oku gets a ton of chants and starts the match against Ricochet. Not too long into the match Oku gets pounced over the top rope and almost legit fucking died. Very scary landing. It seems like he is okay as he continues the match and makes a tag to Kevin Knight. Gate of Agony hit their finish on Oku then held him for Ricochet to hit the spirit gun for the 1, 2, 3. Other than Oku nearly dying, this was a very fun, action packed match. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Match #3: Triangle of Madness/Megan Bayne def. Statlander/Willow/Harley/Aminata:

The Megasus is out first with Penelope Ford. Then the trio of Thekla/Skye/Julia follows. Willow comes out to a huge pop followed by Queen Aminata, then Harley Cameron who shares some high fives with the other two. Kris Statlander is out next and leads the crew to the ring. I’m not sure what else I can even say about a multi-person tag match on a preshow. There is some storytelling going on as Stat refused to tag Willow in at some point, then Thekla and Queen Aminata brawled to the back. Later on, Stat accidentally hits Willow leading to Megan Bayne hitting Harley Cameron with a running powerbomb for the win. So far the preshow is 3/3 on fun matches. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

The Young Bucks tell a production guy to start treating them better, by playing their old music and to find the most dangerous things he can find in London. I can’t wait to see how this pays off.

Match #4: AEW Trios Championship match: The Opps def. The War Dogs:

The Dogs are out first with Gedo beside them. The Opps are out next and the crowd is very much behind them. My guys Katsuyori Shibata and Clark Connors start off. For more on my interactions with both these guys, feel free to read my NJPW LA Dojo travelogues. Once again, this match had a ton of great action and the Opps can do no wrong in my eyes. Samoa Joe hits a muscle buster for the win. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆.

The pre-show was everything it needed to be. Four good matches that got the crowd nice and hot for the main card

Main Show

Match # 1: Adam Copeland and Christian Cage def. Killswitch and Kip Sabian:

After a whole lot of twisting and turning, Cope and Christian have reunited! Metalingus hits and the crowd pops huge. That song does fucking rule though. Christian Cage comes out to his equally great entrance music, but doesn’t get quite the same singalong that Cope got. As much as I’d love them to return to their schtick from the Attitude Era, I do really enjoy the dynamic these two have at this point. Sabian and Killswitch come out with Mother Wayne to not much of a reaction. Although after their music hits, there is a big “Luchasaurus” chant directed at Killswitch. Throughout the match, tension brews between Killswitch and Kip Sabian. Kip also gets busted open at some point. Soon after Cope and Kip are on the top rope and Killswitch gets Kip on his shoulders allowing Cope to hit a doomsday spear on Kip. Killswitch only seems to want to beat down Christian Cage. And who can blame him. After a good back and forth tag match, Cope and Christian hit a pop-up spear combo on Kip for the win. I don’t know if it’s the nostalgia of seeing these two back together or what, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. All signs do point toward these two winning the tag titles at All Out and I really can’t complain about it.

Match #2: AEW TNT Championship: Kyle Fletcher def. Hiromu Takahashi: It’s Timebomb time as Hiromu Takahashi makes his way to the ring. I still want to know what happened to Darryl. As Kyle Fletcher makes his way to the ring, I just want to say that this was probably the match I was most looking forward to when it got announced. This should be a good one. The interactions between Bryan Danielson and Don Callis throughout this match are just phenomenal. There’s not much I’m going to write about this one because I was just along for the ride. And boy what a ride it was. Great match that lived up to the expectations. ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Match #3: AEW TBS Championship Four-Way Match: Mercedes Moné def. Alex Windsor, Persephone, and Bozilla: Alex Windsaaaaaaaaaaaaaa is out first to a big reaction. This will be my first time seeing either Bozilla or Persephone so I’m excited to see what they can do in this match. Bozilla is out next and has some badass entrance gear with the smoking mask. Persephone is out next, followed by Mercedes 9-belts. Before she comes out, there are a group of 8 guys dressed as Buckingham Palace guards, each holding one of her many belts. I kind of want her to win more belts, just to see how absurd we can get with people carrying all her belts. The vast majority of this match is spent making Bozilla look dominant, until we get a tower of doom spot. The crowd is fully behind Alex Winsor as she begins to take over after that, but soon after Bozilla is back to lay the beat down on the other ladies. Bozilla hits a moonsault on Winsor and Persephone for a near fall. At the end of a very good match, Persephone tries to hit Mercedes with a crucifix powerbomb, but Mercedes is able to counter into a roll up for the win. All the ladies looked great and there were some good moments in this one. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆.

That match was fun to watch, but now it’s time to read Shakespeare to a dog.

Match #4: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Nigel McGuinness: It’s real graps time at the O2. And I’m excited for this one. I spent my entire time in the business trying to be an American Zack Sabre Jr. and developed a great appreciation for the British World of Sport style. So with this match being Zack vs Nigel, Bryan Danielson on commentary, Johnny Saint and Marty Jones in attendance, a red hot British crowd, and it’s being reffed by my guy Stephon Smith, I’m going to just shut up and enjoy this one, like the fucking mark that I am.

Now that the match is over, this match was everything I wanted. Zack Sabre Jr gets the win after a sequence of pin reversals. There was some teasing with Daniel Garcia, but I’m glad it didn’t play too much into the match. ★★★★★★★★★☆. If you disagree, you’re probably one of the dogs having Shakespeare read to them. Grapple me, nerds! I’LL FOOKIN TURN YOU INTO A PRETZEL BRUV!

We cut to the back where Thekla and Queen Aminata are somehow still fighting. They brawl into the arena where Skye and Julia come to help out. Then Jaime Hayter returns and makes the save! Give me both the Women’s blood and guts and the Women’s tag titles, Tony Khan. I know you’re totally reading this.

Match #5: AEW World Tag Team Championship match: Brodido def. FTR and The Hurt Syndicate: FTR is out first, then Brodido, then the Champs. Everyone starts by brawling on the outside and there are some gnarly bumps on the floor. Once things calm down, we get some more traditional tag team wrestling. Unrelated, but every time I see Bobby Lashley, it reminds me of the time I went on a date with someone who had Bob as a guest at her wedding (Non-monogamous couple thus explaining why she was dating while married). Anyway, back to the wrestling. We get a good “Whoa, fuck the revival” 7 nation army style chant which was fun. Bandido takes a ton of heat, but then makes a tag to Brody Muthafucking King, who comes in and cleans house for a while. Then he goes one on one with Big Bob for a bit which gets the crowd fired up. After some great sequences and spots, some guys wearing masks and NJPW hoodies attack Bobby and Shelton, leaving Brodido and FTR to battle it out. It’s revealed that Ricochet and Gates of Agony are under the masks as they take the Hurt Syndicate to the back. Back in the ring Brodido hit their finish. Bandido slips off of the pin causing the 3 count to be reset. Once he got Dax pinned again, he got the win and Brody and Bandido are your new AEW tag team champs. Quite sloppy at the end but still a very good match. These guys are all way too good to allow something like that to slip, as unfortunate as it is. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆.

Match #6: AEW Unified Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Swerve Strickland: Now we’re getting to an absurd stretch on the absolutely stacked card. Swerve/Okada. Toni/Athena. Hangman/MJF. 10 man cage match. What the actual fuck??? Also we get good ol JR is on commentary for this one. Swerve is out first and I will always do the Prince Nana dance on my couch when he does. Okada is out next and I fucking hate that they changed his iconic music. That was probably the point. There’s some good back and forth before Swerve’s knee comes into play. Okada works that knee quite a bit. Swerve is able to get back on top and goes for a piledriver on the steel stairs, but Okada counters into a DDT on the steps that almost caused Swerve to take out the camera guy. Okada keeps working the knee, but Swerve keeps fighting back. After a bit of Swerve being up, Okada takes back over. He does his Rainmaker pose flip off thing, but with the two fingers instead of one. He really is an international superstar. Okada keeps going for the Rainmaker, but Swerve keeps countering it in different ways. Swerve eventually hits the Swerve Stomp but the knee prevents him from pinning Okada right away. Good psychology in this match so far. Swerve misses a House Call and Okada hits a Rainmaker for the win. Very good match based around Swerve’s knee issues. Very good, but I’m starting to realize that Okada’s best days may be behind him. Or maybe my lack of skill is finally rubbing off on him from that one time I trained with him. Who knows. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. After the match, Okada starts attacking Swerve’s knee before Nana makes the save. Wardlow returns and beats Prince Nana down then beats down some security guys. Wardlow joins the Callis family and they all celebrate on the ramp. Konosuke Takeshita comes out and accepts Wardlow into the crew.

Match #7: AEW Women's World Championship Match: Toni Storm def. Athena: Athena is out first with Billie Starks at her side. Toni Storm is out next wearing a powdered wig. While Toni is struggling to get all of her entrance gear off, Athena signs the contract, making this match official. The two go at it for a bit before Toni goes to the outside and hits Billie with a Storm Zero piledriver. Athena hits a big dropkick sending Toni into the video barricade and causing the screen to short out. Over the course of the match Toni’s neck becomes more of a factor as every time she takes a move she holds it. Billie has recovered and starts getting involved in the match as well. Athena hits a move that can only be described as an alley-oop, into a flatliner, into a Koji clutch which looked fucking fantastic. Toni rolls to the outside and Athena hits a dive. Athena then goes to piledrive Toni on the steps, but Toni gets out. She throws Athena into the video barricade and it starts working again. I love how dumb pro wrestling is sometimes. Billie continues causing distractions causing Toni to get hit with Athena’s finish. Billie is looking to hit Toni with a chair, but Mina Shirakawa comes out and chases her off. After a short sequence, Toni locks in the chickenwing for the submission win. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. Yet another very good match that didn’t quite hit great. At this point, I’m not sure if it’s the matches or if I’m just burned out by watching wrestling for almost 6 hours straight.

Match #8 AEW World Championship Match: "Hangman" Page def. MJF: MJF is out first in his Ric Flair inspired robe, followed quite quickly by Hangman Page, who is wasting no time in getting to the ring. I paused here for about 10 minutes to take a short break, but resumed for championship introductions. MJF is heeling it up big time, which I can always respect. Hangman is taking no shit from MJF in this one and I love it. There is already a good story brewing here as Hangman keeps almost doing things that would get him disqualified and lose the belt he fought so hard for. After a long time of great back and forth, MJF goes to the outside and grabs the timekeeper’s table and places it outside the ring. He puts Hangman on it and goes to the top rope, but Hanger gets up and stops MJF from doing his dive. The commentators question why MJF is trying to use the table so let me explain my fellow wrestling heel’s logic. MJF puts Hangman through the table and beats him down with weapons to get disqualified, then signs his Casino Gauntlet contract to essentially restart the match. You know, like how Brock purposefully lost a fall by hitting Kurt Angle with a chair then pinned him to get that fall back in their incredible Ironman match. (Something I blatantly stole for the first two falls of a 2 out of 3 falls match I was in once). Hangman hits a tombstone piledriver on the floor and MJF looks to be out. Hangman rolls him in the ring, before grabbing the table. Hangman hits a deadeye from the apron through the table. Not sure how that’s not a DQ, but referee’s discretion and whatnot. Back in the ring, MJF is able to get his foot on the rope to break the pin. After some more fighting on the outside, MJF hits a tombstone onto the wreckage of the table from earlier. Hangman barely beats the 10 count, and a “Cowboy Shit” chant echoes throughout the O2 arena. MJF exposes the turnbuckle, but ends up eating it instead. MJF is now also dawning the crimson mask, as a “You deserve it” chant is directed toward him. A very lengthy sequence of rollups ends with Hanger hitting a deadeye for a two count. Not a person in the arena is sitting down at this point. MJF pulls out his Diamond Dynamite ring and tries to bait Hangman into using it. Hanger doesn’t and goes for a buckshot but MJF pulls the ref in front. Hangman stops, but is pushed into the ref. MJF hits a low blow and his finish. They do the “foot on the rope, but the ref didn’t see it” thing from the MJF/Briscoe match a few weeks ago. Mark Briscoe comes out for a distraction and is removed by security. The ref catches MJF trying to pull Hangman’s foot off the rope. MJF continues to be a giant shitbag but all his attempts fail. After MJF tries to use the ring, he is stopped by the ref. As the ref is distracted, Hangman nails MJF with the contract clipboard thing, deadeye, buckshot, 1, 2, 3. Great storytelling and equally great action. Hangman Page is the fucking man. ★★★★★★★★★☆

Lights Out Steel Cage Match: Golden Lovers, Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Will Ospreay def. Death Riders, The Young Bucks, and Gabe Kidd: Bryan Danielson leaves the commentary desk due to issues with people in the match as the ring crew begins pulling everything out from under the ring. They put over the whole unsanctioned aspect of the match, but I’m not entirely sure that would hold up in court if anything did happen. Darby is out first and I’m honestly afraid of what he might do in this match. The GOAT Hiroshi Tanahashi is out next and I’m equally afraid of what he might do in this match. Kota Ibushi is out next, and as with the last two, I’m afraid of what he might do in this match. Kenny Omega is out next to a massive pop. Will Ospreay gets a video package narrated by Alex Windsor before he makes his entrance in his home country. He gets the full singalong and pyro treatment. He climbs to the top of the cage for the part of his song where the whole arena chants “Ospreay, Ospreay”. It’s an incredible moment. We get one more look at what may be the most stacked wrestling team in the history of wrestling teams. Ospreay hugs everyone. Not a dry eye in the house. This shit means something to me man…

The Bucks are out next. They get the first bit of their music, then it warps. After a few seconds of silence, MMMbop by Hanson plays. This whole bit keeps getting better by the week. Death Riders and Gabe Kidd are out next and it’s time to get down to business. This match is going to be complete chaos so I’m not even going to attempt to fully recap it. At one point, the Bucks went for a bag of tacks that was instead filled with gummy bears. Kenny puts gummy bears into the mouth of one of the Bucks and Ibushi hits a big kick on him, causing the bears to go flying. At another point, Claudio tapes Darby to a chair and Mox proceeds to take a fork to Darby’s ear. Renee, please come get your mans. Outside the cage, Marina and Yuta set up a quad stack of tables. Later, Tanahashi attempts to climb the cage, but is stopped by Will, Kota, and Kenny. Instead Will heads to the top and hits a moonsault onto all of the heels. Later on, Darby and Mox escape the cage and make their way over to the 4 stack of tables. Darby lays Mox out onto the bottom tables and climbed to the top of the cage. Marina grabs Mox and drags him to safety and Gabe Kidd low blows Darby on top of the cage. We get an apt “Please don’t die” chant. Gabe has Darby in a sleeper, but Darby rakes the eyes and jumps off the cage with Gabe on his back. Kenny gets Matt Jackson on his shoulder, Will hits Matt with the hidden blade from the top, Kenny hits the one winged angel, then everyone cheers Tanahashi on as he goes to the top rope. High Fly Flow from the Ace. 1, 2, 3. Good guys win. Except for Darby. I struggle to say he truly won anything. A technical classic it was not, but for what it was, it was damn entertaining. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. I am going to be a blubbering mess when Tanahashi has his final match in January. After the match, Will Ospreay gets the arena to himself and the whole crowd chants for him. We get a fake end before Claudio destroys Ospreay with a European uppercut. The heels proceed to beat Ospreay down while the babyfaces stand there doing nothing and watch Marina climb the cage. The Opps come out and still nobody climbs the cage. The Death Riders put Will’s head in the chair and stomp it to take him off TV for the foreseeable future. The cage gets raised and the heels retreat through the crowd while the faces finally get to their guy. Ospreay is put on a stretcher and taken out. From a selfish standpoint, I really hope he is good to go for All In next year, as I’m planning a London trip to go to it.

Forbidden Door may not have been the best PPV/PLE of the year (AEW Double or Nothing would be my pick so far), but it was a damn good one. Every match was at minimum very good and there were multiple legit match of the year contenders. There are storylines going on and I can’t wait to see where they go. If you enjoyed reading this or you want to tell me that my opinions are bad, feel free to do so and remember. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Thanks for reading.