It was Sunday, you know what that meant. AEW collaborated with CMLL, STARDOM, and NJPW to produce Forbidden Door this past weekend. The show filled its card with fun matches, memorable moments, and bloody spots galore. Which moments stood out the most? Let’s dive into this whole shebang, starting with the Buy-In.
Your English commentators for the night consisted of Excalibur, Walker Stewart, Tony Schiavone, and Nigel McGuinness.
Drilla Moloney v. Daniel Garcia
Garcia played such an entertaining heel against Drilla here, emulating New Japan President Tanahashi and flipping off Nigel at the commentary table. With Drilla acting as the solid base against Garcia’s chicanery, he got to hit his ultimate finisher, the Drilla Killa, for the win. Neat little match to kick off the Buy-In.
Maika v. Skye Blue – TBS Title “Survival of the Fittest” Qualifier
My first true introduction to Maika and she showed up to replace her fists with bricks, proverbially. Both these women hit quite hard and made Maika look strong ahead of her next AEW date. That suplex on the apron though, no give there. Yeouch. Maika winning put her over big time as she is now in the Survival of the Fittest 6-Way on Dynamite.
Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) (c) v. Thunder Rosa & Olympia – AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship Match
Our first CMLL representation of the night witnessed Olympia become the competitor of the whole Buy-In with her squatting Megan Bayne. Thunder Rosa and Olympia didn’t do much in terms of chemistry with the whole “tag team” thing, which is where the Divine Dominion excelled. In the end, the D-Squared won the day after some struggle that wasn’t seen in their previous defenses. Perhaps we’ve got some cracks forming in the Dominion?
Now, onto the main card!
Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) v. Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi & Titán) v. El Sky Team (Místico & Máscara Dorada) – 3-Way Tag Team Match
Do you enjoy people flying around with reckless abandon? Flips, flips, and more flips? Here’s the spotfest for you. Everyone did some crazy dive at some point here with Shingo Takagi acting like the brick wall in the middle of all these good lucha things. The match was a bit botchy at times and you could never tell who was legal throughout the whole thing, but it was still a ton of fun. Sometimes you just have to turn your brain off and appreciate the creative spots all around.
In the end, the Bucks pinned Titán to win this nonstop Superkick fest. Twas a good exhibition match to get the crowd hyped for the rest of the show. Even with no stakes, the star power in the ring at all times got people excited for all six of these guys. It also appears that the Bucks are gunning for the Tag Titles, which is why they won.
Zack Sabre Jr. v. Kenny Omega
I hate to say, but Kenny’s getting old. Zack and Kenny lit each other up with nasty uppercuts, V-Triggers, and chops here. The submission switching from Zack was incredible like always, and the final stretch of kicks was amazing too. Zack just casually produced another banger in his Forbidden Door match history, like the demon he is. Omega used this match to jumpstart his upteenth World Title campaign makes me feel bad for Zack, but it is what it is.
Kenny won this match after hitting the ultra-protected One Winged Angel finisher. Predictably this match was great, and both guys looked insane throughout it. It’s just a shame that Kenny can’t be as explosive as he was in 2018 because of all of his injuries. It’s bonkers to say that this wasn’t my Match of the Night, but it’s also a testament as to how great the rest of the card was.
Jon Moxley (c) v. Bandido – AEW Continental Championship Match
Moxley ripped at Bandido’s mask so hard here that we could almost see his full face. Too far, Mox! Bandido always proved to be the strongest on the roster when we least expected him to. He used that power to try and outshine Moxley’s fire, and it was working well for that small bit. All that blood spilled by Bandido on his white gear and half-ripped mask looked badass too. The powerful fighting spirit of Bandido refused to die even after a Death Rider finisher, which stunned Moxley.
Ultimately though, Moxley hit a second Death Rider to end this match and retain his Continental Title. Bandido seriously is one of the best AEW has, period. He remained a jobber to the stars tonight like he did in the Owen Hart Cup match against Swerve at Double or Nothing. But even when he lost, he had a reliably high quality match against someone who matched his freak.
Shota Umino (c) v. PAC – IWGP Global Championship Match
The New Japan fan in me got very excited to see Shota Umino universally cheered in America. Both he and PAC wrestled like it was a NJPW main event with all the fighting spirit and the hard hits. Emphasis on the HARD hits. Many spots got the crowd riled up, especially with the Awesome Bomb through the table to the outside. Umino finished this one with the Second Chapter on PAC to win and gain his first successful defense of the IWGP Global Title.
It was all bangin’, with Umino’s usual slow pantomiming in between strikes getting big reactions instead of apathy. On top of all this, Moxley looked to confront his former Young Lion Umino after the match. However, no-knees and big-boned President Tanahashi showed up to chase away Moxley. It was an effective way to set up an eventual Shota Umino v. Gabe Kidd Global Title match down the line.
Thekla (c) v. Starlight Kid – AEW Women’s World Championship Match
The people were fans of Starlight Kid, but were more so distracted by the “Forbidden Door” Title plate on the back of her mask. Still, her in-ring moves were good and she did what she could to stand out in a sea of crazy matches tonight. The story of this match was largely Thekla vs. Stardom, with president Taro Okada at ringside to angrily shake his head whenever Thekla did something cool. It overshadowed Starlight Kid a bit which was a shame, especially since a Stardom wrestler winning the AEW Women’s Title just felt too unbelievable to happen.
In the end, Thekla Speared and Stomped her way to a title retention victory. Then she went on to unmask SLK, spit in the mask, and rub it in Okada’s face. President Okada sold it like he got hit with a Superkick, which was funny. Great match overall, with the story being continued of Thekla being too unhinged for Stardom’s own good.
Cope & Cage (Adam Copeland & Christian Cage) (c) v. The Dogs (David Finlay & Clark Connors) – AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship Match
If there was a “weakest” match of the whole card, it would be here. Cope and Cage kept looking strong even after all these years, and The Dogs made their offense look presentable as well. The commentary really played up to Finlay’s dad’s history with both Cope and Cage, as David and Clark heeled on Christian’s arm for the longest time. Adam came back to fight off the opposition, featuring a double Spear spot from him and Connors. That was nice. BUT THEN! The lights went out and focused a spotlight on the Bang Bang Gang on the stage.
JAY WHITE IS F*CKING BACKKK!!!! He helped Cage and Cope retain the Tag Titles with The Switchblade taking out the man who kicked him out of the Bullet Club years ago. The entire Bang Bang Gang celebrated on stage as the crowd celebrated the return of Jay White after 15 loooong months of inactivity. The return overshadowed the match, but my god, what a long-awaited return!
Mercedes Moné v. Maya World – Women’s Owen Hart Cup Final
My friend Gabbie freaking out over this match’s greatness in the voice chat group I was in while watching this made it better to watch, honestly. These two women laid it all out in the ring, with Maya World especially looking like a million bucks. This star-making performance was bolstered by Maya beating Athena en route to this match, and Mercedes turned that competitive spirit up to eleven with all the wrestling on display.
The meteoras, the Statement Maker submission fighting, Maya survived it all with hope in her eyes. Those final few minutes of fighting in the submission and Maya kicking out of the MoneMaker was insane. That crowd was so loud when Maya reached for the ropes, I thought someone ran down. But no, they were just really behind Maya.
In the end, Mercedes yanked backwards on that Statement Maker to get Maya to finally tap out. Mercedes is now a two-time Owen Hart Cup Winner, giving her a Women’s World Title match for All In. Such a shame Mercedes won, because everyone really wanted Maya to pull through. That promo afterwards from Athena putting over Maya was baller. Truly, a new star was made tonight.
Team DCMJF (MJF, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle, Kazuchika Okada, & Andrade El Ídolo) v. Team Briscoe (Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Konosuke Takeshita, & Darby Allin) – 12-Man “Death’s Door” Steel Cage Tag Team Match
That was the most fun I’ve had watching an AEW match in a long time. I’ve never laughed out loud harder than when Lio Rush appeared in the bag. The NES console, the oranges gifted by Willow Nightingale, Andrade’s “F*CK DON & F*CK MJF” shirt. It was all so funny. Along with that, Kazuchika Okada, Konosuke Takeshita, and Kyle Fletcher’s 3-Way graps was a fantastic preview for their potential future match.
Everyone had something to do in this match, and listing out every insane spot couldn’t do this match’s energy justice. To name only a few, Darby landed face-first into a pile of thumbtacks right after getting married, naturally. Kevin Knight exploded on top of the cage and fell through a bunch of tables. Takeshita hit a beautiful Blue Thunder Bomb through a separate table onto Kyle Fletcher. Just so many wild things packed into one match.
In the end, Andrade attacked MJF to separate himself from the Don Callis Family, which led to Mark Briscoe’s team winning the match. A ton of mini-matches within this cluster of a match made for nary a dull moment anywhere. This was total nonsense wrestling and I was all for it. It was very fun to watch hardcore wrestling and fighting spirit mix with so many talented peeps. It seems to be AEW’s specialty now with matches like Anarchy in the Arena and Stadium Stampede. Here’s to hoping “Death’s Door” can be a yearly thing!
Will Ospreay v. Swerve Strickland – Men’s Owen Hart Cup Final
You’re either a huge fan of this match, or you hate this match with a burning passion. I fall in the former position of this discourse, because Ospreay and Swerve are both unbelievably talented in the ring. These two wrestled like a Dragon Ball Z episode on cocaine with how often recognizable moves happened. Thanks to bumps into steel steps by the way, we got blood from both peeps. They bled so much that it stained the ring and the announce table cover, how disgusting.
As the match went on, the action got more and more brutal with powerbombs and handspring kicks everywhere. Hidden Blades from Ospreay, House Calls from Swerve, but both men kept surviving. Their movesets got exhausted with every variation of every move they could pull off, but then the Death Riders appeared at ringside to hype up their boy Ospreay. He ate a House Call before finding the fighting spirit to spike Swerve down with a Stormbreaker. But more kicking outs ensued.
Once these two started kicking out at one from signature moves, it got admittedly ridiculous. But Ospreay would finally hit a Storm Driver to get the pin and win. Ospreay will now wrestle for the Men’s World Title at All In. Lots of discourse came from the length these two went in the main event, but I can get behind this overwhelming style of wrestling.
Think about it, if you were met with a wrestler who was a complete athlete, flying around, being strong, and all that, what would you do? Spamming finishing moves just to try and kill that complete wrestler seemed like the only possible solution, because otherwise he’s going to outmaneuver you. That was what it looked like Swerve was doing and what Moxley figured out to do at Dynasty. It’s such a wild side of wrestling without dipping into hardcore weaponry, and that Dragon Ball Z style really tickled my fancy.
Overall, this was an absolutely stellar show. There was not a single bad match on the whole night, although some definitely overshadowed others. The final three matches of the night were the best, but that shouldn’t knock the work of everyone before Maya and Mercedes. Many MVPs got thrust into the spotlight, and the competition of wrestlers from multiple companies made for an entertaining night of professional wrestling.
AEW is currently on an undefeated run of pay-per-views right now in terms of quality. And there is no sign of slowing down anytime soon!
