An unbelievable night of professional wrestling is set to take over the SAP Center in San Jose, California, as All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Ring of Honor (ROH), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and World Wonder Ring Stardom (STARDOM) come together for the cross-promotional event of the year, Forbidden Door. Featuring a triple main event offering, the night will see the Finals of both the Men’s and Women’s Own Hart Foundation Tournaments, where the respective winners will go on to battle for the men’s and women’s World Championships in Wembley Stadium at All In: in the final match of the show, Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland face off in the Men’s Tournament final in a rubber match of their 1-1-1 history, while in the Women’s Tournament bracket, Mercedes Mone looks to go back-to-back against the unexpected opponent, Maya World. In the third of an incredibye triple main event, two hand-picked teams, led by Mark Briscoe and AEW World Champion MJF respectively, face off inside a unique, rounded steel cage, where if Briscoe’s team can win, Brisco will earn a future championship match against MJF.
Also on the show, “The Toxic Spider” Thekla puts her AEW Women’s World Championship on the line against Starlight Kid of STARDOM, after months of sneak attacks and assaults of office staff, including the STARDOM company president, Shota Umino defends his newly won IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against PAC of the Death Riders, and the the AEW Continental Championship is on the line as Jon Moxley defends against the current ROH World Champion, Bandido. With NJPW’s G1 Climax looming, two former winners of that presitgious tournament face off, as Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr. meet for the first time in over eight years in singles competition, and finally, kicking off the show, in an epic three-way tag team contest, Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) face both Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi & Titán) and El Sky Team (Máscara Dorada & Místico).
On the Buy In pre show, three contests to set the scene for the evening: first, the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships are defended, when Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne and Lena Kross) defend against Thunder Rosa and Olympia; STARDOM’s Maika faces Skye Blue for the final spot in the impending Survival of the Fittest match on this weeks’ Dynamite, and NJPW’s Drilla Moloney battles Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders in singles competition.
+ Team DCMJF (MJF, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle, Kazuchika Okada & Andrade El Ídolo) vs. Team Briscoe (Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Konosuke Takeshita & Darby Allin) (12-Man Steel Cage): I am a big fan of this rounded steel cage set up, and if this is going to be a featured match type going forward, I am all for it (maybe replaying Blood and Guts? They are different enough to keep both for different reasons). Jake Doyle looked excellent in this match, and I’ve been glad to see him back in action. Almost everybody was given some time to shine, including a few surprise guests, but I’d suggest Doyle, Andrade, Darby, Okada, Fletcher and Takeshita got the most. I hate MJF, but even he was tolerable in this one. Overall, this was wild and a lot of fun
+ Thekla (c) vs. Starlight Kid (AEW Women’s World Championship): I am more familiar with Starlight Kid than I am many other STARDOM wrestlers, and Thekla has been on an absolute tear as of late. This match was excellent. Thekla is something special in all of wrestling right now (and very nice to look at) and her uber-bad guy character is perfect for these interpromotional stories. I think maybe the match went on a smidge too long after a particularly awesome move could have ended it, but I don’t begrudge them for that when the rest of this was so great
+ Shota Umino (c) vs. PAC (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship): this match was very similar to Moxley/Bandido before it, but it was those differences which made it awesome. PAC played the overpowering bully perfectly while Shooter was the underdog defending champion, and it was PAC’s powr spots which had me yelping at my screen. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would
+ Jon Moxley (c) vs. Bandido (AEW Continental Championship): goodness me I loved this. I’m not a particular fan of Mox, but I am a big fan of Bandido. These two had me hooked early, and while Mox’s character is incredibly inconsistent, I can’t say I was ever bored. The things Bandido can do are superhuman, in a world where everyone can do crazy things. Most importantly, this was a very different type of match to Omega/Sabre before it, and that made it significantly better
+ Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: I am an absolutely unashamed Kenny Omega mark and have been for over a decade now, and there is simply nobody in wrestling like Zack Sabre Jr. If I were making wrestlers of my own, they would be based on these two without question, and this match is exactly why. I loved this from start to finish, and it has reignited my passion to watch this entire impending G1 Climax to see more of Sabre. This was easily a top match I’ve seen all year
– Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland (Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Final): the entrances to this match made me so angry I was almost willing to skip it… and frankly I wish I did. Blood and finsiher spam does not make for a good wrestling match. I genuinely hated almost everything about this match, including the huge amounts of blood right near Nigel McGuiness who eiher worked me well or was genuinely uncomfortable being around it. The trading of super finishers and finiher variants takes me out of these matches every single time, and I do not find it hype or anything more than ridculous when that is what these matches devolve into. I hated this, in a way I have not hated wrestling in a long time
– Mercedes Moné vs. Maya World (Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Final): this match did not a single thing for me. I have never felt Mercedes to be a good wrestler, and her numerous mistakes and timing errors here proved it to me. The notion she would even attempt a powerbomb on someone bigger than she is is absurd to me. Maya World, meanwhile, has had an enjoyable rise but is simply not ready for a match of this magnitude. The crowd was wildly behind World at a few specific instances, and I very much liked the immediate finish of the match, but overall this wsa nothing special and I did not care for it
– Adam Copeland & Christian Cage (c) vs. The Dogs (David Finlay and Clark Connors) (AEW World Tag Team Championship): I don’t know what the intention was here, but this was horrible. An absolute dud of a match with a single cool in-ring moment and one fun story advancement. Christian can still go, and I enjoy how much of a jerk he is, but this was a huge swing and a miss for me
– Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi & Titán) vs. El Sky Team (Máscara Dorada & Místico): as a very longtime Shingo fan, it was excellent to see him stand out amongst the high flyers. This match was a million miles an hour and full of spectacular moves — and therefore a half dozen near misses where someone landed roughly. Both of El Sky Team looked phenomenal, and I am always impressed with Titan, going back as far as his first BOSJ appearance some years ago. My major issue with this match was the rules/refereeing; consistently, multiple people were in the ring at once, but the match started with the need for tags, and it ended with both members of the winning team making the pinfall. If the rules mean nothing, why should I care?
– Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) (c) vs. Thunder Rosa & Olympia (AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship): that spoken word intro to Divine Dominion’s theme needs to go, right away; it absolutely sucks. Olympia was lots of fun, insofar as I am not familiar with her, and I do always love Divine Dominion, but this match was not good. Thankfully it was on the very skippable Buy In
– Skye Blue vs. Maika (TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match): I am not at all familiar with Maika, as a non-STARDOM watcher, but I enjoyed her in this match. Skye Blue is good but not great, and a few missed moments or perhaps timing issues were very noticable in this. I am not a fan of big time apron moves in these pre-show matches
– Daniel Garcia (w/ Marina Shafir) vs. Drilla Moloney: I do not care for Daniel Garcia, and I am indifferent at best to Drilla (outside of his awesome finish). This was a totally acceptable opening match for the Buy In, but also totally unnecessary
> I really love the rotating commentary team AEW has, and Walker Stewart of NJPW and STARDOM fit right in
> It has been pointed out to me that I am extra critical, or too harsh, on AEW show, and that is potentially true. At their base level, every match on all of these shows are good, because the wrestlers are professionals. This is the same in that almost all video games are ‘good’ if they start and work as intended. But for me to sit through five uninterrupted hours of wrestling, I damn well better be entertained and not feel like I could have skipped something, and that is what I judge based on.
Should you watch this event: If I had stopped at the end of Thekla vs Starlight Kid, or at very most the Cage match, I might be able to recommend this show of almost five hours. As it stands now, the main event in particular made me so mad I cannot say anything more than seek out your favourites and I’m sure you’ll hear all about the rest. I am still mad about how much I hated Ospreay/Swerve.
MoshFish Reviews 