Wrestling Review: AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door (2023)

For the second consecutive year, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) come together to present Forbidden Door live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the main event, an all time dream match that nobody thought would ever happen as AEW’s “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson battles “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada of NJPW to determine who the best professional wrestler in the world is. Both the AEW and NJPW world championships will also be on the line in two huge title matches, the first of which sees AEW World Champion, MJF, battle The Ace of NJPW, Hiroshi Tanahashi with the gold on the line. Meanwhile, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA had offered an open challenge to anyone on the AEW roster to face him for that title, a challenge which was answered by “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry in the latter’s only second ever world championship match. In arguably the most anticipated match of the card, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and challenge Will Ospreay are set to run back their match of the year contender from January’s Wrestle Kingdom event, once again with the championship on the line.

Meanwhile, Orange Cassidy also looks to continue his record breaking AEW International Championship reign as he faces not one, not two, but three top opponents when he defends his gold against AEW’s Daniel Garcia, Ring of Honor’s (ROH) Katsuyori Shibata and NJPW’s Zack Sabre Jr. Rounding out the title matches, Toni Storm will be in action when she battles Willow Nightingale for Storm’s AEW Women’s Championship. The Blackpool Combat Club team of Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta, along with Moxley’s ally from NJPW Shota Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita are set to collide with Hangman Adam page, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson of The Elite, as well as their partners Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii in 10-man tag team action, while Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki and Sammy Guevara team up once more to face Darby Allin, Sting and Tetsuya Naito in trios action. Finally, in the first match of the Men’s bracket of the Owen Hart Foundations Tournament, CM Punk is set to walk into a hostile crowd to face the NJPW and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) legend, Satoshi Kojima.

+ Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada: every single thing about this was incredible, up until the very ending which was so anticlimactic I thought I must have missed something. Danielson has apparently been wanting this match as long as all of us fans have been wanting to see it, and Okada always delivers in these big match situations. I would love to know the behind the scenes details on how the winner and final moments of this were determined, because it was somewhat unexpected
+ Kenny Omega (c) vs Will Ospreay (IWGP United States Championship): what is there to say about this? Their first match was probably the match of the year at that point and this was just as good if not better. Omega is one of the best complete wrestlers in the world; Ospreay is incredible at what he does in the ring; the addition of Don Callis to the story against Omega only made it better. This was a grand success in every single way, and a match you should go out of your way to see
+ Toni Storm (c) vs Willow Nightingale (AEW Women’s World Championship): I am such a big fan of Willow, I was hanging on every moment in this match. I certainly don’t dislike Toni Storm, but this character of hers is so good it makes me not want to see her wrestle, because I just presume she will win through the sneaky Outcasts stuff. Whether that was the case or not, Willow’s undeniable charisma elevated this and I think it’s time we all stop sleeping on Willow Nightingale
+ Orange Cassidy (c) vs Daniel Garcia vs Katsoyori Shibata vs Zack Sabre Jr. (AEW International Championship): I absolutely loved this match, and the whole thing was really exciting. Shibata is an all time favourite, and Sabre is quickly joining him up there. I’m not big on Garcia, and feel he is often the weak link in his matches, but with Shibata and Sabre, alongside Cassidy’s current injured-but-battling champion character there were no weak links here. I still can’t believe Shibata is back and actually wrestling again

– Darby Allin, Sting & Tetsuya Naito vs Le SuzukiGods (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki): frankly, this wasn’t that good. We finally had the chance for Darby/Hiromu either as a team or better still opponents, and we even had Minoru Suzuki/Sting facing off, but instead the main tease was Jericho/Sting, which I truly have no interest in seeing. Jericho is very quickly losing steam as act to pay attention to for me
– Blackpool combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta), Shota Umino & Konosuka Takeshita vs The Elite (“Hangman” Adam Page, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii: I liked this a lot, but it was because of Moxley, Ishii, Takeshita and Claudio and nobody else. I am such a huge fan of Claudio that I can’t believe he is once again languishing away in a multi-person team, which I thought might have been behind him now that he’s the ROH World Champion. Ishii is another all time favourite of mine, and his sequences with Takeshita make me want that singles match more than anything coming out of this mess of a match
– SANADA (c) vs “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry (w/ HOOK) (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship): I am not at all going to call this a dude, but if there was ever a predictable match that made both guys look bad, this was it. In the end this was clearly more about the story than the match itself, but SANADA’s new turn as champion has been interesting but not good, and “Jungle Boy” has been fine but basic for far too long to warrant a spotlight of this magnitude
– CM Punk vs Satoshi Kojima (Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal): this was the match I was looking forward to most for the crowd noise, and it didn’t disappoint. The in-ring action was about average, but I personally got a real pop out of Punk doing some of Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s moves (Tenzan being Kojima’s long time tag team partner, and where the WWE version of Punk got lots of his moves from). Kojima is one of those veterans that can still go when he needs to, but I don’t think Punk was the right opponents for that, or at least not in that circumstance
– MJF (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (AEW World Championship): it is no secret that I believe Tanahashi is well and truly on the decline, but I had faith that his positive character would mesh with the negative character of MJF to enhance what was certainly going to be a not-great in-ring match. Unfortunately, I don’t think that was the case. The crowd was super excited for this, but it just never clicked with me in a way I think matches for World Titles should

> there were also four matches on the Zero Hour pre-show. Of those, Stu Grayson versus El Phantasmo is well worth watching, but you can skip the rest.

Should you watch this event: Overall, this was a good show, with two fantastic matches that blow out that average. Neither of the World Championship matches were anything special, but the Danielson/Okada match and especially Omega/Ospreay are well worth going out of your way to see.