The fourth annual AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door PPV is in the books, and as expected it was a pretty excellent night of wrestling in front of a sold out O2 Arena crowd that apparently broke the wrestling attendance record for that venue. The main show ran just over four and a half hours but because of the match order it never felt like it dragged. AEW should always arrange the lineup like this, with the three or four most important matches saved for the end. NJPW has done this for years and it makes the shows fly by. We got some great wrestling, a couple big returns, and a show-closing injury angle to allow Will Ospreay the time to get a much-needed neck surgery.
After four very fun multi-man pre-show matches the PPV proper kicked off with Adam Copeland reuniting with Christian Cage for the first time in fifteen years or so, taking on Kip Sabian and Killswitch (subbing for an injured Nick Wayne). The match was fine, if a little sloppy in spots, but the bigger story was that neither team fully got along. Christian still hasn't fully bought in to teaming with his best friend again, and Killswitch wanted nothing to do with Kip. Not sure where the Killswitch thing is going, unless he ends up back together with Jack Perry to feud with Cope and Cage later. I wouldn't be sad about that. Team ACCC won the match when Sabian tried to hit Cage with a Killswitch but Cage vaulted him into a Cope spear and pinned him. ***
Next up was the night's first standout match as Kyle Fletcher defended the TNT Title against Hiromu Takahashi. This got just under fifteen minutes but like a good G1 match they packed that time with a lot of action. Even though no one thought Hiromu was winning this, the crowd was still very into the match and loved seeing him. They traded all their big moves but Fletcher went for a brainbuster, Hiromu countered with a cradle, but Fletcher kicked out while holding on and got him up for the brainbuster to win. ****1/4
The TBS title match followed, as Mercedes Mone defended against Alex Windsor, CMLL's Persephone and Stardom's Bozilla. I had never seen Bozilla before; she's six feet tall and has incredible presence, though at 21 years old she's still pretty green. But there's a star waiting to be made. This match was messy a lot of the time with all the differing styles, but everyone worked hard and Mercedes sold for a lot of it. Bozilla showed her Vader influences, from her entrance gear (complete with a mask that shoots smoke) to her moonsault and powerbomb. Persephone hit an impressive Razor's Edge on Bozilla and tried to use it on Mercedes, who countered it with a flash cradle to retain. ***1/4
One of my most anticipated matches was next as Zack Sabre Jr. defended the IWGP Title against Nigel McGuinness. This was an absolutely lovely European technical wrestling match. Tons of smooth counters and transitions and uppercut battles. Bryan Danielson on commentary (a role in which he excels as it turns out) added a lot, talking about his history with both men and explaining the psychology of everything they did. Daniel Garcia in Nigel's corner ran afoul of the referee a couple times, teasing a heel turn. But that was left for another day. After seventeen minutes they exchanged rollup attempts until Zack finally held on long enough for the three-count. The two men shook hands and hugged afterwards. Excellent match. ****
What was supposed to be an elimination rules three-way tag match was simply a one-fall match, as The Hurt Syndicate defended the tag titles against FTR and Brodido. This was a really fun match with a very bad finish. THS actually did some selling and the crowd popped big for the exchanges between Lashley and Brody. Late in the match THS ended up on the outside and were attacked by three masked men, who turned out to be Ricochet and Gates of Agony. The heels kept the champions at bay for the rest of the bout, allowing Brodido to hit their 450 Monkey Flip spot on Dax Harwood (which got botched), and then because it looked so bad I think Bandido probably told Dax to kick out, which led to the referee stopping his count but then counting to three anyway. Unfortunate start to what should be a great tag title run for Brodido. I imagine the attack by Ricochet and the Gates will turn out to be a plot by MJF, revenge for being kicked out of THS. ***3/4
AEW wisely left the four biggest matches for last, starting with Kazuchika Okada vs. Swerve Strickland for the Unified Championship. This was a really good Okada 2025 match, and Swerve worked his ass off as always. His injured knee of course played into the story; every time he'd hit a big move it would aggravate the injury. Late in the match Swerve kept evading or countering every Rainmaker attempt. Swerve hit the stomp but couldn't follow up because of his knee, and he went for a House Call from behind but Okada ducked and finally hit the Rainmaker for the win. Post-match Okada pinned Swerve's leg between the post and the steps and whacked it with a chair. Prince Nana tried to help but was cut off by a returning Wardlow, who knocked him out and then took out three security guards. He was then enshrined as the newest member of the Don Callis family. Gotta say, I love this pairing. Excellent match. ****1/2
Toni Storm vs. Athena was next, and they started off fast. Billie Starkz tried to interfere early but Toni dispatched her with a Storm Zero on the floor. Athena tackled Toni into the LED board which shorted it out. Athena dominated for a while and tried to hit a piledriver on the steps, but Toni escaped and threw Athena into the LED board, which turned it back on. I laughed. Toni hit Storm Zero in the ring for a nearfall. Billie distracted Toni, allowing Athena to hit an O-Face across the top rope. Billie grabbed a chair but Mina Shirakawa ran down, took the chair and chased Billie away. Athena tried an O-Face in the ring but Toni held on and locked in the TCM Chickenwing for the submission. Damn good stuff and another big win to solidify Toni Storm as the champion of champions. ****1/4
The semi-main slot went to Hangman Page vs. MJF, and they had a pretty epic bout, full of great character work. MJF stalled at the beginning, which made Page's eventual assault that much more aggressive when he finally caught him. Page teased using a chair but referee Bryce Remsburg reminded him that he'd lose the title on a DQ. Page hit a Tombstone on the floor and then a Deadeye through a table that MJF had set up. Back on the outside, MJF tripped a running Page, sending him face-first into a chair and busting him open. MJF Tombstoned Page through half of the broken table and tried to win via countout, but Page beat the count at the last fraction of a second. MJF exposed a turnbuckle but Page rammed him into it, causing a gusher. MJF tried to get Page to hit him with the Dynamite Diamond ring but Page refused, until MJF spat in his face. Page almost caved, but instead spat right back in MJF's face. Page went for a lariat but MJF pulled the ref in the way. MJF hit a low blow and a Heatseeker and went for the pin, and the half-awake referee counted to three, missing Page's foot on the ropes. MJF celebrated but there was no bell. Mark Briscoe ran down to protest but was stopped by security. MJF then noticed Page's foot on the ropes and went to move it but Remsburg sprang up in a miraculous recovery (this was weird) and cut him off, telling him the match would continue. MJF threw the title belt into the ring to distract Bryce and then hit Page with the contract case, but Page kicked out. MJF tried to use the diamond ring but Bryce took it away, allowing Page to hit MJF with the contract case, followed by a Deadeye and Buckshot Lariat to retain. Great match with some overly wacky hijinks. MJF still has the guaranteed title shot, but I suspect Mark Briscoe will end up winning it from him. ****3/4
The main event was the Lights Out cage match, and they used a NJPW-style cage that encircled the entire ring area. This was a combination of outrageous violence and some comedy, like the Stadium Stampede and Anarchy in the Arena matches. The healthiest wrestlers did the lion's share of the work, while Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and especially Tanahashi played background roles with a few big moments. Will Ospreay did a lot of heavy lifting as well despite his lingering neck issues. The most memorable spots were Jon Moxley trying to tear up Darby Allin's ear with a fork, which was cringe-inducing, Ospreay hitting a moonsault on everyone off the top of the cage, the Young Bucks bringing out a bag of what they thought was thumbtacks, nails and broken glass (on the pre-show they'd ordered a production guy to fill the bag for them) but what turned out to be gummy bears, Claudio press-slamming Darby from the ring all the way into the cage, and Gabe Kidd and Darby crashing off the top of the cage through four tables at ringside. Finally Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay hit Matt Jackson with a combination Hidden Blade/One Winged Angel, followed by Tanahashi's Hi Fly Flow for the win. Everyone left the cage to allow Ospreay his moment to say goodbye for now, but then Mox and Claudio beat the crap out of him and Mox hit several Paradigm Shift DDTs in a row. The Opps ran down and got the cage raised, but the damage was done and Ospreay was stretchered out. Great, great main event. *****
So yeah, once again an excellent PPV showing by AEW, and I'd put this year's Forbidden Door just behind last year's overall. Several great matches and no bad ones. Hard to argue with a show like that. Again, I love that on the last two PPVs they've saved the three or four biggest matches for the end; the show flows so much better that way.
Best Match: Lights Out Steel Cage
Worst Match: Team ACCC vs. KipSwitch, but that was still fine
What I'd Change: I'd say simplify the late-match shenanigans in Hangman-MJF and also explain to the audience why the Tag Title match wasn't elimination rules
Most Disappointing Match: Nothing disappointed really
Most Pleasant Surprise: Brodido winning the straps
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
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