Pantoja’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Review

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door

June 25^th, 2023 | Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario

Best Friends, El Desperado and Rocky Romero (0-0) vs. The Mogul Embassy (0-1)

Despy with the Best Friends warms my heart. I also popped for the Roppongi Vice reunion as they worked together. The Best Friends team worked well together and were fun but I just can’t get into the Embassy unless Swerve is the one wrestling. Trent took the heat segment which was fine but uninspired. Desperado go the hot tag and did his thing. He’s always really good. It was also great to see him be part of the big camera zoom-out hug. Things broke down after that so everyone could get in a spot or two. Some miscommunication saw Swerve eat a Cage clothesline that set up a near fall. In the end, Rocky fell to Swerve’s double stomp in 12:23.  Solid way to start things. The heat segment was a bit dull but it was good otherwise. [**¾]

Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Athena (31-2) vs. Billie Starkz

Athena has won 47 straight matches and is dominant as the ROH Women’s Champion with an aggressive attitude. She was ruthless from the start and took time to talk trash to Billie, even shouting “YOU SUCK KID.” Billie avoided the O-Face and started in with some offense though you knew she never had a chance. Athena turned it around quickly and hit a STIFF powerbomb but only got two on a kick. That should’ve been the finish. However, them trading dropkicks was cool. Billie took a ROUGH bump by trying a top rope senton on the apron and missing. Athena brought her in and won with a move that I don’t know the name of. This went 7:48 and was better than expected. [***]

El Phantasmo (0-0) vs. Stu Grayson (59-22)

This was mostly here to be a showcase of sorts for ELP, who is from Canada. Grayson did some heel stuff but ELP was clearly the main attraction and he hit most of his signature stuff. I thought this was over about five minutes in when he hit Thunderkiss but Grayson kicked out. I feel like matches in AEW often go past the obvious ending moment. Grayson got his obligatory near fall with a 450 before ELP won with CRII in 7:14. That was a fine little match. [**½]

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher and TJP

We’re dealing with some weather warnings in my area so I missed entrances here dealing with some stuff. This was fast paced and filled with action, which is expected given who is involved. I loved seeing Hiromu mix it up with Cobb. They really need to move that man to the heavyweight division after this title reign. The Fletcher/Shingo exchange was great too as he has been on fire on his own after Mark Davis’ unfortunate injury. Cobb throwing Shingo around like he’s a baby will always be impressive. Cobb is a wild dude. Hiromu nearly took a BAD bump but he seemed alright. Shingo scored the win over TJP with Made in Japan at the 7:30 mark. That was a lot of fun. [***¼]

Onto the main card!

AEW World Championship: MJF [c] (3-0-1 in 2023) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (1-0 in 2023)

At last year’s show, Tanahashi faced Moxley for the title in a stellar match (****½). MJF’s robe said “New Japan is an indie.” MJF threatened to walk out early on but Tanahashi started a “coward” chant and the insecure champ returned. I loved MJF bringing back old heel tactics like using the ropes for leverage. It’s such an easy spot and it always gets a reaction especially when the referee kicks your hand free. Tanahashi’s midsection was the focus and he sold as he tried his offense. It’s a smart strategy because it could take away High Fly Flow. MJF tweaked his knee at one point and made a bad move by doing a shoulderbreaker on it. Max’s elbow pad said “Ace is Ass” which is great. He talked a lot of smack throughout but Tanahashi saw the bad knee and went for dragon screws and the Texas Cloverleaf. That got Tanahashi really going until MJF got his knees up on High Fly Flow. Soon after, he won by using the Diamond Ring gimmick in 15:33. That was kind of a flat finish but I loved the old school feel to that match. [***½]

Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinals: CM Punk (18-2) vs. Satoshi Kojima (0-0)

It’s PHIL. Massive boos for Punk. Commentary did the old John Cena explanation for the reaction which is hilarious. Kojima overpowered Punk early and flexed his titties. Punk played into the heat wonderfully (he’s always been better as a heel) by egging them on and hitting a Hogan style leg drop. Punk getting a mixed but mostly boos Cena-like reaction. His dreams have come true. Him yelling “KOJIMA” as he laid into the legend with lariats was funny. That made it all the sweeter when Kojima gave him the machine gun chops. Kojima did offense for a bit but when Punk got going, we got “Pepsi sucks” chants. Kojima avoided the GTS and hit a BRAINBUSTAAA but then fell to GTS soon after at the 13:36. That worked in a lot of ways. Good, hard hitting wrestling boosted by Punk being an absolute jerk. Keep doing this because trying to make him a face through these reactions like Cena would be a mistake. Let him be unlikable. [***½]

AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy [c] (15-0 in 2023) vs. Daniel Garcia (41-33) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (1-0) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (2-0)

Three champions and Daniel Garcia. Right off the bat, the personalities in this shined through. OC did his comedic kicks, Garcia got treated like a goof, and Shibata traded vicious shots with ZSJ. Garcia just doing his awkward dance while getting beaten up was great. Even when spots involved other guys, ZSJ and Shibata just wanted to go to war with each other. I wonder if they’re teasing a singles match at some point soon. I liked the spot where everyone just hit vertical suplexes on each other. Garcia tried to steal this by using the Pure Title as a weapon but Shibata kicked out. OC stepped up to face Shibata in a strike exchange that went about how you’d expect. OC’s damaged hand was a target throughout, especially by Sabre. The counters and seamless way that everyone moved in and out of this ruled. After going at a breakneck pace, OC caught Garcia with a crucifix to retain in 11:26. That was so much goddamn fun and the best thing on the show so far. [****¼]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: SANADA [c] (0-0) vs. Jungle Boy (12-2)

THE HANDSOME BATTLE. Including Hook outside. This was largely fine as most SANADA matches are. The early exchanges saw JB do the “I almost had you” hand gesture which is so played out in wrestling. Then he teased doing the Paradise Lock but it was SANADA who got it right. That move is the dumbest in all of wrestling and looks stupid. It takes you out of the match. Once they got past that section, this picked up with SANADA bodying JB with some stiff strikes and by tossing him around. They had some good exchanges late but the crowd was kind of dead, likely because SANADA hasn’t been in AEW before and nobody bought JB as a winner. SANADA won with the moonsault in 10:42. [***¼]

Post-match, Hook looked angry so I thought he was gonna turn on Jungle Boy. Instead, JB clotheslined him and then picked up the FTW Title.

The Blackpool Combat Club, Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. Eddie Kingston, Hangman Page, Tomohiro Ishii & The Young Bucks

Eddie brought back the REDEEM DEEZ NUTS shirt! Eddie wanted Claudio to start but the heel tagged out and brought in Shooter, which meant Hangman tagged in. Every exchange early on was pretty great, with Ishii/Takeshita as a standout. However, the crowd came to their feet for Eddie vs. Moxley, proving how well this has been built. They had a ridiculous battle of chops but even after it was done, Moxley still wouldn’t take a cheap shot on Eddie but Claudio was game to do so. Eddie took the heat for a while. Takeshita was WRECKING Ishii with some of his strikes. Like, Ishii is normally one to walk through strikes but he was floored. The second hot tag went to Hangman who was ON FIRE. That set up the best stretch of the match with the Elite running amok until Eddie knocked Moxley out of the way of a double superkick spot. I get the idea but it kind of missed for me because it’s not like that was some next level move he saved him from. Just a double superkick. However, it did come back nicely into play at the end when everyone hit moves on each other and Moxley chose to hit Eddie with a cutter, leaving him alone to eat that double superkick. Yuta got left alone with Ishii, losing to the Vertical Drop Brainbuster in 21:25. A hell of a wild ride here with tons of action and great storytelling. [****¼]

AEW Women’s World Championship: Toni Storm [c] vs. Willow Nightingale

Again, I missed the entrances and win/loss records getting a new drink. As expected, the Outcasts were outside so Willow gave them the ‘ol DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER after taking down Toni though that opened the door for Toni to turn the tide. The Outcasts also jumped her. Thankfully, the heat segment didn’t last too long and Willow got back on offense, hitting a pretty sweet Death Valley Driver on the apron though a follow-up one didn’t finish the job. The Outcasts eventually got ejected and Toni got her nose busted at some point. Willow stopping Toni’s momentum with a sweet POUNCE was probably the highlight of the match. In trouble, Toni resorted to some eye gouging and won with Storm Zero in 10:22. I’m glad they kept the Outcasts stuff to a minimum and allowed them to have a good, hard hitting match. [***¼]

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega [c] (25-5-1)  vs. Will Ospreay (2-0)

Will brought back the “Aerial Assassin” moniker and his old theme. Don Callis was out with him. This got off to the kind of start that let you know it would go long but they didn’t just do stuff for the sake of it. The back and forth was really a battle for positioning and the first upper hand. Callis tripped up Kenny at one point and got ejected but his military grade security stuck around. Ospreay took the next big advantage with some impressive offense including a sweet SSP though his apron Oscutter looked bad. I loved him violently trying to put Omega’s head through the table as revenge for the Tokyo Dome. Omega being busted open added to it. Ospreay also played the dick, defacing the Canadian flag and getting his ass kicked for it, possibly reigniting Omega. That led to Omega slamming his head into the steps and busting him open even worse than at Wrestle Kingdom. I stopped writing because I just got engrossed in the match. It was something special with close calls that had me on the edge of my seat but they also didn’t overdo finisher kickouts or anything like that. Both guys looked exhausted and were battered. Callis showed back up which kind of defeated the purpose of him getting ejected. He handed Will the screwdriver and he used it on Omega before hitting Stormbreaker for what looked like the finish but Kenny got his foot on the bottom rope. He added One Winged Angel, which nobody has ever kicked out of, but Kenny kicked out at one. Will never stopped, adding a sickening looking Tiger Driver ’91 for yet another near fall (that went a bit far in near falls) before finishing with Stormbreaker after 39:38. I preferred the first one as I didn’t love the Callis involvement but this was still remarkable. [****¾]

Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki and Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin, Tetsuya Naito and Sting

JOKER STING. Naito kept his shirt on for this which is hilarious to me. It’s a big PPV and he’s like “cool down match Samuel isn’t worth me putting in the effort.” He gave no effort against Sammy, then we got a fun little Suzuki/Darby battle complete with a  “Murder Grandpa” chant, and then Jericho and Sting had an old man battle. The highlight of the match was Suzuki joining in on a fun pose with Sammy and Chris. Sammy seemingly injured Sting at one point and our legend looked rough afterward. He then took a 630 through a table and honestly, I really don’t need Sting taking that spot. Hilariously, Sting no sold that for the most part. Naito beat Suzuki with a pinning combination in 15:07 and yeah, that should’ve been like 8 minutes. [**]

Bryan Danielson (8-1) vs. Kazuchika Okada (0-0)

DANIELSON HAD THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. FIVE STARS ALREADY! The fans didn’t sing every word like we did in the old ROH days but it was still cool. “Holy shit” and “this is awesome” chants before they even touched. Danielson won the first exchange and did some jumping jacks so Okada won the second by kind of kicking his ass and shutting him up. The feeling out process was interesting but you could tell it was being worked at a New Japan pace. Things changed when Okada no sold chops and demanded Danielson kick him harder. A neckbreaker by Okada really put Danielson in trouble as even when he hit a move, he was clearly favoring it and even flexing his fingers as if he was trying to get feeling back. Okada just started throwing dropkicks, hitting a John Woo one and then two of his pretty high jump ones. They really are among the best in wrestling history. Danielson avoided a Rainmaker outside and started in with the It Kicks before taking a Tombstone on the ramp. DANIELSON, PLS. He twitched in the ring and had a medic come look at him but Okada pounced only for Bryan to avoid the Rainmaker and hit the Busaiku Knee. Danielson survived a Rainmaker and countered another one into the Yes Lock which he modified and then added some crossface punches. He then wrenched back again and got the surprising submission victory after 27:37. The crowd was stunned at the finish and that made it seem kind of flat. This obviously didn’t live up to the absurd expectations people put on it, partially because I think they worked an Okada formula match but it was still pretty great to me. [****¼]

9.0

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

How lucky are we? Outside of Double or Nothing, basically every major show from WWE, AEW, NJPW, STARDOM, and basically everywhere else this year has delivered. This was fantastic with only one or two matches not really working for me and several being legitimately great. A tremendous night of wrestling.