Forbidden Door is a heavily-hyped show, and a lot of people are really looking forward to it.
For me, it’s an extra special event. If you know me, you would know I’ve been screaming from the mountaintops about wanting to see Bryan Danielson face Kazuchika Okada at some point. For years, it simply didn’t seem like it would be possible, but the dominoes have finally fallen in such a way that we’re getting a bout that has been my biggest “dream match” for nearly 15 years.
Let’s have some fun, shall we?
MJF vs Hiroshi Tanahashi – AEW World Title Match
lol @ MJF’s robe saying “New Japan is an indie” on the back. His elbow pad says “Ace Is Ass.” This is, of course, in reference to Tanahashi always being referred to as the “Ace” of New Japan. Never change, Max.
I wasn’t sure what to expect here. Some of MJF’s matches are more about telling a story than the actual in-ring action, and Tanahashi has lost half a step, which is understandable, as he’s nearly 47 years old and has been wrestling for nearly 24 years. This ended up being one of those “story” matches. It was a lot more about MJF not wanting to be there, and constantly trying to find ways to end the match early. He tried to get disqualified multiple times, cheated left and right, and was the general weasel that you expect him to be.
Don’t get me wrong… the match was fun. It just wasn’t put together like something that was ever going to be a classic. 3 Stars
Satoshi Kojima vs CM Punk – Owen Hart Cup 1st Round Match
To the surprise of nobody, this Toronto crowd booed the hell out of Punk, even before his music hit. The boos got louder when the music hit. Then, strangely enough, a loud “C-M Punk” chant was heard once the music stopped.
The match was a lot of fun. Punk seemed to love playing the heel, and played to the crowd repeatedly, only making the crowd hate him more. Kojima, like Tanahashi, clearly isn’t in his physical prime, but what do you expect from someone who is almost 53 years old and is coming up on the 32nd anniversary of his pro wrestling debut? The man still looked really good, though, and he was given a ton of offense here. Another match that won’t end up being on a lot of people’s year-end lists, but still worth checking out. 3.5 Stars
Orange Cassidy vs Daniel Garcia vs Zack Sabre Jr. vs Katsuyori Shibata – Four Way Match for the AEW International Title
Cassidy is the AEW International Champion. ZSJ is the NJPW Television Champion. Shibata is the RoH Pure Champion. Garcia is the PWG World Champion. While Cassidy’s title is the only one on the line here, it’s extremely cool to see four different champions from four different promotions included here.
AEW six and eight-person tag matches are wrestled at an insanely fast pace. The pacing here was more of the usual Triple Threat or Fatal Four Way, where two men wrestled in the ring while the other two spent a few moments out of the ring. Then, one guy would get thrown out of the ring, only to be replaced by one guy that was at ringside, and so on and so forth. The action was still really good, though, and it is the early pick for Match Of The Night. 4 Stars
Sanada vs “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry – IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
A lot of people, myself included, were a bit disappointed when this match was announced. When Sanada put out an open challenge for the show, there was a lot of excitement about who would answer the call. Would it be a big star? Were we going to go to Forbidden Door without knowing Sanada’s challenger? Instead, Jungle Boy answered in what seemed like 20 minutes. I’m a fan of Jungle Boy, but I was just expecting someone “bigger” in a match for New Japan’s biggest title on a show like this.
JB was made to look really good here. He wrestled a smart match, trying some of Sanada’s offense, and generally looking like he did a lot of homework. I dig it. The match was really well done, with lots of counters and the usual stiff striking style of New Japan. 3.5 Stars
After the match, we got the Jungle Boy heel turn that has been rumored for a while, with JB attacking Hook on the entrance ramp. Honestly, I don’t like that move. We just sat through a feud between JB and Christian Cage that we never thought would end, and when it finally did, they pretty much turned JB heel immediately after? Also, JB’s ring entrance is the best part of his presentation, and you would have to assume that won’t be happening anymore. JB’s mic skills are nowhere near strong enough to help him out as a heel. This could be a problem.
“Hangman” Adam Page, The Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino – Ten Man Tag Match
Physical. Violent. Brutal. Stiff. This match was all of that. Do you want a back-and-forth chop fest between Kingston and Moxley that literally lasted multiple minutes? You got it here. Do you want Takeshita hitting Ishii with a stiff forearm that sounded like a gun went off in the arena? You got it here. Do you want Matt and Nick Jackson hitting superkicks to the chins of their opponents? You got it here.
As the match went on, things got more and more hectic, turning into the type of frantic action that everyone knew was coming. Great stuff throughout here, but man, Takeshita was the MVP. He already looked like a million bucks in the ring, but his heel turn has allowed him to ramp up his physicality and aggression, and he looks even more dangerous now. If he isn’t the AEW World Champion before next year’s Forbidden Door show, I will be shocked. 4.25 Stars, and I have a feeling many will feel that rating is too low.
Toni Storm vs Willow Nightingale – AEW Women’s Title Match
Look, I like Willow. In fact, I like her a lot. However, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed that an injury caused us to miss out on this match being Storm vs Mercedes Moné, which would’ve been a phenomenal match.
While I think Toni vs Mercedes would’ve been better, this ended up being better than I was expecting it to be. Tons of hard-hitting action here. Toni ended the match with a bloody nose, and what will undoubtedly be a very sore neck when she wakes up in the morning. 3.25 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay – IWGP United States Title Match
Their previous encounter was a five-star classic that a lot of people still have as their pick for 2023’s Match Of The Year. Needless to say, expectations are high for this one.
A “holy shit” chant breaks out when the opening bell rings, before the men have even made contact with each other. Damn, imagine how the crowd is going to react to the main event.
Ho. Ly. Shit. What a fucking match. There were plenty of callbacks to their match at Wrestle Kingdom in January, but this was paced much slower than that match. That isn’t a complaint in the slightest. This was one of the stiffest matches you’re ever going to witness, and it featured almost every style of pro wrestling that there is. I can’t give this anything less than 5 Stars. There’s a big part of me that wants to pull a Dave Meltzer and break my own scale to give it a higher score than that, because it deserves it. Goodness gracious.
Now, I want a third match between Omega and Ospreay. Put it at All In(nit), attach a crazy stipulation to it, and let them continue to create art.
Sting, Tetsuya Naoto & Darby Allin vs Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara – Six Man Tag Match
These poor bastards have to follow Omega vs Ospreay. That sucks.
This was a bit of a rough one at times. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Four of the six men in the match are a combined 212 years old, with a combined 113 years of in-ring experience. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t matching up to a lot of what we saw tonight. It didn’t help that the crowd was exhausted from the previous match and were mostly quiet for everything that didn’t involve Sting or Suzuki. 3 Stars
Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson
DANIELSON CAME OUT TO “THE FINAL COUNTDOWN” AND THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES THIS THE GREATEST MATCH OF ALL-TIME. I AM MOIST.
A completely different match than what we got with Omega and Ospreay, but this was still absolutely incredible. The mat wrestling, counters, and reversals were all as magnificent as you would expect from these two.
With Danielson, there’s always the possibility that he isn’t selling, but he looked like he was selling some major injuries here. Whether it was to the head and neck or the dead arm that he wrestled the entire final stretch with, he looked like he was on the verge of being taken out on multiple occasions. That was beautifully done, and only added to the overall drama.
I’m going to go with 5 Stars. Again, it was much different than Omega vs Ospreay, but still a great, physical contest between two of the best in-ring performers in the history of pro wrestling.
What a show. If you didn’t get the chance to check it out, find the first chance possible to do so.