Pantoja’s AEW Forbidden Door 2026 Review

AEW Forbidden Door

June 28^th, 2026 | SAP Center in San Jose, California

El Sky Team vs. Shingo Takagi and Titán vs. The Young Bucks

El Sky Team is Mistico and Mascara Dorada for those unaware. This was a good choice to start the show as it was just action-packed and didn’t have too much in the way of a story to tell. And sometimes, that’s okay. I like a good spotfest in the right cases and this was one of them. El Sky Team worked well together and Mistico moved seamlessly after all these years. I really liked the power game that Shingo brought to this. He’s always been great in multi-man tags like this. The Bucks did Young Bucks stuff. Unfortunately, my feed cut out for whatever reason during the finish and all I saw was that the Bucks won, but not how. A good spotfest to start the show and fun, though overly long. I went back after the show and saw the finish. [***½]

Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

I love their G1 match from 2018 because it’s 15 minutes of ZSJ totally taking Kenny out of his element. It’s so different from other Kenny matches. This was a good battle of Kenny’s explosiveness and ZSJ’s ability to control the pace and ground the action. I love a good bit of push and pull in my matches, so I was into this. Sabre would wear Omega down and lay in some strikes, only for Kenny to bust out a running boot and dragon suplex. That kind of stuff was all throughout this match. They built the drama late and it came off well because I legitimately didn’t know who would win. The spot where ZSJ turned the One Winged Angel into a triangle choke was cool. This was a toss-up, which added to the fun. Seeing them just trade knee strikes and uppercuts was great. I bit on pretty much everything. Finally, this epic concluded when Kenny busted out a Kamigoye knee strike and delivered the One Winged Angel, taking this in 26:25. Just two fantastic pro wrestlers having a tremendous pro wrestling match. Sometimes, that’s all you need. I didn’t even write much because I was kind of just watching. [****½]

AEW Continental Championship: Jon Moxley [c] vs. Bandido

I came into this expecting a good match but one that didn’t have a ton of drama. I figured Bandido wasn’t about to become a double champion. However, they managed to get in there and tell a story that had me hooked and led to me believing in a handful of close calls by Bandido. He showed off a ton of power and he’s super underrated in that area. Moxley had to try and slow the pace to stop his big bursts. The violence was at a high level here, with both men getting busted open. That’s kind of classic Moxley at this point. The finish worked well really well, as Moxley had a rear naked choke in and Bandido powered up to his feet to break it, only for Mox to manage to keep hold and get the victory after 18:07. It came off really well and sold the fact that Bandido is a beast but that Mox was just a bit better today. [****¼]

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Shota Umino [c] vs. PAC

This was a match that felt like it really had no drama. Shota wasn’t going to lose the title to an AEW guy and New Japan needed him to win here to avoid getting totally dominated. They still put together a solid wrestling match, though it never threatened to wow me. I think part of that is my lack of interest in Shota in general, though I do love PAC. Shota targeted the neck and he had something behind a few of his spots, including a dropkick outside and a hanging DDT. They tried to tease a lengthy Rings of Saturn spot but again, there really wasn’t any drama. In the end, Shota hit his finisher to win in a match that went too long at 18:11. Largely fine but nothing more. [**¾]

Post-match, Moxley got in the ring to go face-to-face with Shota, who was Moxley’s former protégé. However, Hiroshi Tanahashi showed up to a pop, Mox and PAC left, and Tanahashi put the title around Shota’s waist.

AEW Women’s World Championship: Thekla [c] vs. Starlight Kid

Want me interested in your PPV? Book Starlight Kid. STARDOM President Taro Okada was ringside for this. Thekla had a special entrance with some fire twirlers. It was pretty cool. Starlight Kid started hot but Thekla turned the tide by taking the fight outside and throwing her into the guardrails. That set up a Thekla heat segment, with Starlight Kid pulling out hope spots to keep herself in a good position. Popping up for the top rope arm drag was well done and it marked a momentum swing. The spot where SLK dropped Thekla on her head on the apron was sick. Starlight Kid went after the leg, setting up her Black Tiger Leg Killer, including one where she added a giant swing style move with it. The Starlight Kid moonsault was awesome, while Thekla hit two of her big stomps to retain after 18:42, all while pointing at Okada. A great match and Starlight Kid really hasn’t missed in a LONG time. Also my favorite Thekla match ever, even if it, like the last match, lacked drama.

Post-match, Thekla, with the help of the Sisters of Sin, got a pair of scissors and unmasked Starlight Kid, though the referee covered it up. She spit on the mask and rubbed it over Taro Okada’s face, who hammed it up hilariously.

AEW World Tag Team Championship: Adam Copeland and Christian Cage [c] vs. The Dogs

This was the match I cared the least about coming into the show. That was kind of the story for how the entire match went for me. The stuff they did wasn’t bad by any means, it was just next to impossible to get invested in and you could tell early on that they were going to go way longer than they needed to. They worked the heat on Christian for a while and again, they did a good job with it outside of getting me invested. Cope got a solid pop for his hot tag though he missed a Spear and had his momentum stalled. Cope and Cage rallied and had this won only for the pin to get broken up and for David Finlay to use the shillelagh as a weapon. Then, the lights went out and when they came back on, the Gunns, Juice Robinson, and Ace Austin were on the stage. The Switchblade sound effect hit and Jay was in the ring, hitting Finlay with Blade Runner. Cope added a Spear and the champions retained in 16:46. A fine match that I just couldn’t really get into. [**½]

Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Finals: Maya World vs. Mercedes Moné

The finals nobody expected. The match followed a simple, yet great formula. Mercedes is the star who came in cocky and Maya is the underdog who shows her that this won’t be an easy win. It’s something that works often with the right combo of veteran and up-and-comer, which this was. Maya has a ton of fire in her offense and Mercedes knows how to beat the asshole who talks down to her and ends up invertedly bringing out the best in her. Maya would get momentum going, only for Mercedes to find a way to cut her off. As Maya really got going, you could see a swing, with Mercedes looking for cheap openings, like pulling Maya into the ropes. I loved that Maya followed up Mercedes’ Three Amigos with her own trio of offense, capped by a fallaway slam to the outside. Really well done. Maya kicked out of the Mone Maker, which I didn’t love but they also had her kick out of Athena’s finisher, which was wild. Maya’s sunset flip bomb onto the floor was pretty sick. We got a really cool counter sequence where Maya turned a Mercedes pin attempt into her own Statement Maker, only for Mercedes to put it back into her own and then we got some near falls out of it. Mercedes hit one more move before applying the submission again to win the tournament for the second straight year at the 24:51 mark. A spectacular match. A few portions came off awkwardly but the overall package was fantastic and they told the story they needed to, allowing Mercedes the big win and turning Maya into a star. [****½]

Death’s Door Steel Cage Match: Team Briscoe vs. Team MJF

For those unaware, Team Briscoe is Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, and Konosuke Takeshita. Team MJF is MJF, Andrade, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle, and Kazuchika Okada. The cage design was sick as it was a circle that surrounded the entire ringside area, meaning the floor was in play in the cage. As expected, this was a big brawl right from the opening bell. This was wild from the start, as you’d expect. They brawled immediately and we got goofy spots like a Nintendo being used as a weapon. Story-wise, this furthered the MJF/Andrade angle, with them arguing over grandstanding, and more action from Takeshita against Okada. The sickest moment was Darby flipping over on a back body drop and landing face first on the thumbtacks. It was disgusting and he was clearly in pain. From there, everyone got a segment to shine and showcase what they bring to the table. Lio Rush did a run-in as he was hidden in Roderick Strong’s bag and his odd antics really caused Team MJF to struggle. That segment lasted a bit long for my taste. The big moment came when Andrade hit MJF with his back elbow and did so on purpose. He then kicked Jake Doyle low and revealed a shirt that read “Fuck Don, Fuck MJF.” Mark hit Jake with a Jay Driller to get the win in 30:48, capping a ridiculous match and I mean that in a good way. [****]

Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Finals: Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay

This was the right choice to main event. Their Forbidden Door match in 2023 was insane (****¾). Will had a Bane themed entrance and Swerve came out on a motorcycle. Things were pretty evenly matched early on until Swerve put the focus on Will’s neck. He made it clear he would target it and it worked. Ospreay fought through it and even made Swerve tap on the outside, before Nana tossed coffee at him. That was an odd spot but I quickly got over it when Will took a vicious powerbomb on the apron. A slingshot into the metal part of the turnbuckle busted Will open in a bad way. There was blood everywhere. Swerve was proving his status as the most dangerous man in AEW. A weakened Ospreay hit Hidden Blade but didn’t get all of it, so Swerve was able to basically shrug it off. Will fired up and did a giant swing into the steel steps that busted Swerve open. Now it was Will’s turn to show that his time with the Death Riders has made him more violent. The blood was everywhere, with puddles all over the floor. They did hit a few cliches, like Will kicking out at 1 from the House Call immediately followed by Swerve kicking out at one from the Hidden Blade. Swerve kicked out of the Stormbreaker but then resorted to a low blow. The Death Riders showed up to shout motivation at Will, who responded with a Buckshot Hidden Blade, Paradigm Shifts, and the Tiger Driver to finally win after a tremendous 35:06. I prefer their prior Forbidden Door match, yet this was great. It felt like an epic, though I do think they did a bit much with some of the near falls for the sake of it. [****½]

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

As usual, AEW puts on a very strong show. It did go longer than it needed to again and there were two mediocre matches, yet the rest of the show was pretty fantastic.