AEW/NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR

 

Toronto

THE MOGUL EMBASSY (BISHOP KAUN, BRIAN CAGE, SWERVE STRICKLAND & TOA LIONA) vs. BEST FRIENDS (CHUCK TAYLOR & TRENT BERETTA), ROCKY ROMERO & EL DESPERADO (12:23): At 5 hours long, this show was too long. It didn't bother me because it took me 3 days to watch it. It was a great show. The only glaring problem was the crowd was spent after the Omega/Ospreay match and thus the last two matches weren't as good as they probably would've been with a hot crowd. The pre-show, free on Youtube, had four matches, none particularly great, though this was a fun opener. The building was maybe half full for this match, which probably didn't help, as I recall last year's Forbidden Door pre-show matches in Chicago featured a gigantic amount of crowd noise. Remember they were popping for Goto and Yoshi-Hashi like they were Hulk Hogan and The Rock? So the Toronto crowd is not as loud as Chicago, and doesn't show up on time. **1/2 

ATHENA vs. BILLIE STARKZ (7:49): The announcers noted that Athena hasn't lost a match since last September's Grand Slam event. I was wondering why I haven't seen her in a while, and it's because she's the ROH women's champ and thus probably only on the ROH shows that nobody watches (they're only on the Honor Club service which costs $9.99 a month and doesn't even give you the ROH PPV's). This was forgettable. *

EL PHANTASMO vs. STU GRAYSON (7:14): Stu Grayson is now affiliated with that Manson cult ROH group led by Vincent. Huh? Maybe he just didn't want to wrestle a full schedule or something. Why the Super Smash Brothers are not still a tag team is baffling to me, as they were one of the best tag teams in wrestling. It also makes little sense to me why NJPW made El Phantasmo a babyface. He was a perfect heel! Decent match, though, for the short time they got. **1/2

LOS IGNOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, HIROMU TAKAHASHI & SHINGO TAKAGI) vs. UNITED EMPIRE (TJP, KYLE FLETCHER & JEFF COBB) (7:30): Would it kill them to put Shingo Takagi, one of the best wrestlers in the world, a singles match on Forbidden Door? They didn't last year, either, although at least he got put in a prominent multi-man match with Sting. They also threw Hiromu into this pre-show match. They should have put Hiromu in a singles match with one of AEW's high flyers. Oh, well. This had some good action while it lasted. **1/2

MJF vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (15:46): I don't think anyone thought Tanahashi was going to win the AEW title here. That was also the problem with the Sanada match. Maybe they shouldn't even defend the big titles on Forbidden Door. Tanahashi actually wrestled the night before this against Swerve Strickland on Collision. That match was better. Considering Tanahashi is a hobbling, shell of his former self, why is even still wrestling? Maybe put him on a tag team or something to hide his glaring flaws. It's really sad to watch him wrestle these days. They even put him in the G1 again. Jesus. The guy can barely walk around. Even MJF made fun of how he walks. Match was just okay. **

CM PUNK vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA (13:40): This was CM Punk's first singles match since he won the title from Moxley at last year's All Out. He wrestled twice in multi-man matches on Collision. The most intriguing aspect of this match was the fact that he got booed and Kojima got cheered. I guess this stems from the fact that everyone outside of Chicago backs The Elite in the infamous locker room brawl. Punk looked good here but Kojima looked incredible. Kojima looked so much better than Tanahashi, which is surprising since Kojima is older and has wrestled longer. This was the first round of the Owen Hart Tournament, which Punk will presumably win. The winner gets...nothing! So what the fuck is the point? **1/2

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. DANIEL GARCIA vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (11:15): This was the 2nd best match on the show. This match was super entertaining and so much fun to watch. I loved this. Shibata and Zack Sabre were slapping each other and kept pushing Garcia out of the way but he kept trying to do his stupid, gyrating dance. It had comedy and was hard hitting and the crowd loved it. Fantastic match. Orange Cassidy retained his International Title. ***1/2

SANADA vs. 'JUNGLE BOY' JACK PERRY (10:49): I thought this match would be better because Jungle Boy is one of AEW's best wrestlers. Sanada on the other hand is mostly a bore. He also looked like he didn't want to be there and was going through the motions (granted, he looks like that in every match). The huge problem with this match was the fact that Jungle Boy was not going to win the IWGP title and everyone knew that. After the match, Jungle Boy turned heel by knocking down Hook, who had previously been his best friend and sometimes tag partner. They have been teasing a heel turn for Jungle Boy but I'm not so sure it's the right decision. I guess after the whole Christian feud, they didn't know what else to do with him. I guess we'll see if it turns into anything worthwhile. I could care less about a Hook vs. Jack Perry match, though. **

THE ELITE (THE YOUNG BUCKS & 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE), EDDIE KINGSTON & TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB (JON MOXLEY, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & WHEELER YUTA), KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & SHOTA UMINO (21:29): This match was entertaining but the problem was that The Young Bucks didn't get tagged in until late, so we didn't get too much of a great, crazy Young Bucks match. Takeshita and Ishii were both in the match the longest, so this was more a hard striking match than a high flying one, although Page and the Bucks all did top rope spots and the Bucks did a zillion super kicks. Good match but I thought this could've been better. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE (10:27): This wasn't very good. Willow is the NJPW women's champ, so maybe they should've had her defend that title and win instead of lose here. Toni retained the AEW title. There wasn't much to this. Willow did a top rope moonsault that was impressive. *1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. KENNY OMEGA (39:50): What can I say about this match? It's hard to even put into words how impressive these two wrestlers are. I didn't think they could top their match from January, and they didn't, but this was still one of the best matches you'll ever see and perhaps just as good as their Tokyo Dome match. I'd probably actually have to watch their January match again to see which one was better. The only negative I'll say was when Don Callis came back after being kicked out to hand Ospreay a screwdriver when the ref was distracted. The match was so great and we didn't want to see outside interference ruin it. Thankfully that wasn't how the match ended. The story of the first match was that Omega busted open Ospreay on a DDT from the top rope down onto the exposed turnbuckle. In this match, both men got busted open. Omega got busted open when Ospreay bashed his head onto the announce table multiple times. Ospreay got busted open when Omega slammed his head onto the ring steps multiple times then did a DDT on Ospreay atop the ring steps that were turned sideways. This match was so engrossing. By the end it was just pure brutality. I can't even fathom all of the punishment these two went through and still kept going. Ospreay was bleeding like a stuck pig all over the ring at one point. Ospreay gave Omega a Tiger Driver that put Omega right on his head. I can't believe he didn't break his neck on that. After the screwdriver spot, Omega put his foot on the ropes to avoid a 3 count. Ospreay did a One Winged Angel and Omega kicked out at 1. Eventually Ospreay won with the Hidden Blade and then the Stormbreaker. This was dramatic as anything you'll ever see, two wrestlers going all out for 40 minutes. I can see why they didn't put this on last, but in hindsight they obviously should have. Nothing could go on after this. This was pure spectacle and one of the best matches you will ever see in your entire life. Ospreay won the U.S. title. I was kind of hoping that Omega would win here and Ospreay would finally get his win at the big show at Wembley in August. After watching the horror show these two put each other through, though, I'm not sure I want to see them do this again. What more could they possible accomplish? This was just incredible and a high water mark few can ever hope to achieve. ****

DARBY ALLIN, STING & TETSUYA NAITO vs. MINORU SUZUKI & THE JERICHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY (CHRIS JERICHO & SAMMY GUEVARA) (15:09): So nothing could follow the Omega/Ospreay match. With a hot crowd, this match might've been excellent. The crowd was half into it. Even the showdown with Jericho and Sting (who, apparently, have never wrestled before) got barely a response. The big spot was Sammy doing a 630 splash from the top rope onto Sting on a table. That was fucking insane. Too bad the crowd was spent. Naito wrestled in a t-shirt, which usually means you don't consider this a big match. Match was entertaining but the dead crowd hurt it. **

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (27:47): This match also probably would have been a lot better with a hot crowd. After 4 and a half hours of wrestling (there was also Tom Lawler dark match before the pre-show...he was supposed to wrestle Adam Cole on the show but Cole was sick) plus following one of the greatest matches of all time, I can't really blame the crowd for being pretty quiet for this dream match. The one good thing about this year's Forbidden Door was that we actually got some dream matches. Last year, CM Punk, Danielson, and Omega were all injured and not on Forbidden Door. This year we got Okada/Danielson and Omega/Ospreay. So there's that. While this match was pretty good, it was also way too slow. Okada is not the great Okada of five years ago. He's too methodical now. I can't even remember the last great match he's been in. It also didn't help that Danielson fractured his arm at the 17 minute mark. In the press conference after the match, he mentioned possibly being out 6 to 8 weeks, which might hurt his chances of wrestling at the big Wembley show. If he didn't injure his arm would this match have been better? Who knows? The ending was also flat. Danielson kicked out after a Rainmaker. But then Danielson submitted Okada and Okada tapped out. That was kind of anti-climactic. I'd have rather seen him win with a flying knee or something more dramatic and exciting. Match was pretty good but the quiet, tired crowd and the injury kind of ruined it. Good show over all, though. AEW really pulls out all the stops on their PPV's. And you can definitely say you got your money's worth. Now bring on Wembley! **1/2