Forbidden Door 2023

AEW Forbidden Door 2023

June 2023 - Toronto, Ontario, CA

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the AEW World Champion was MJF, the AEW Women's World Champion was Toni Storm, FTR were the reigning AEW World Tag Team Champions, Killswitch (Luchasaurus) was the TNT Champion, Kris Statlander held the TBS Champion, Orange Cassidy was the International Champion, and the House of Black were the AEW World Trios Champions.

Forbidden Door 2023 kicked off with Hiroshi Tanahashi challenging the AEW World Champion, MJF. Expectations online were low for this one as Tanahashi was considered well past his prime by this point. Dueling chants and shtick to start things off with MJF trying to take a count-out loss but being brought back when the audience started calling him a coward. MJF gained the upper hand soon after, pulling Tanahashi into the corner by his trunks and then dropping him stomach-first on the top rope. MJF continued to work on the stomach, applying an abdominal stretch and grabbing a hold of the top rope for leverage. Tanahashi hip-tossed out of it (with some assistance from the ref) and hit a flipping senton that looked particularly painful. He went back up to the top but MJF got to his feet. After duking it out a bit on the top rope, Tanahashi hit a crossbody and then hit a guerilla press out of the corner and a sling blade for 2. Tanahashi went back to the top once more but MJF pulled on the rope, causing him to drop crotch-first. MJF hit a beautiful superplex but couldn't capitalize. MJF hit a double-underhook shoulder breaker but damaged his own knee in the process. The back-and-forth continued with Tanahashi's offense looking rough at times (a particularly awkward sling blade. MJF grabbed the championship belt and the ref got distracted getting it back to the timekeeper's table which eventually led to MJF knocking out the challenger with his Dynamite Diamond Ring in a very predictable/generic finish. The crowd's enthusiasm did quite a bit of the heavy lifting in this unremarkable match, though it probably could've been way, way worse. (2.5/5)

Satoshi Kojima vs. CM Punk was the next match, one of the first round match-ups in AEW's annual Owen Hart Invititational Tournament. Having this be a tournament match meant that the finish was never really in question, which hurt things, but the crowd's engagement balanced things out. This being in Toronto - which, I guess, is "Omega Country" - meant that Punk was meant with lots and lots of audible booing upon his entrance, though there were also some "CM Punk" chants at times during the match. Punk worked as a subtle heel, which is the role I think I enjoy him best in. I loved the way he worked on Kojima's knee early on, jabbing at it with unexpected kicks, and then got heat from the crowd by almost mocking the NJPW style with the cartoonish Mongolian chops and then busting out a Hogan-inspired leg drop (Toronto being a famously pro-Hulkster setting). Loved Kojima's nasty elbow drop to CM Punk's groin. The finish was fine, if maybe a touch abrupt. Very solid match and worth checking out if you're a CM Punk fan, but certainly not an all-timer. (3/5)

A fourway for the AEW International Championship was up next with Orange Cassidy defending the title against Zack Sabre Jr., Daniel Garcia, and Katsuyori Shibata. With this make-up of wrestlers, you knew you were going to get a "banger" and that's what this was. Very fun opening with Cassidy doing some shtick before going for a pin on Garcia and getting propelled by Garcia's kickout into a dive on the floor on the other two. I also really liked the bit when Sabre Jr. and Shibata were trading blows and Garcia kept trying to get in on the action but was met by strikes that sent him to the mat. Following Punk/Kojima was going to be a challenge just because of how hot the crowd was for Punk, but they met the challenge by mixing humor, trademark/signature moves, and cut-offs to keep things moving. My biggest gripe was just that guys "disappeared" at times in order for 2-3 of the participants to work through a sequence. I wish they had been given a bit more time, but they loaded up the 11 minutes they got nicely. Good stuff. (3/5)

"Jungle Boy" Jack Perry challenged Sanada for the IWGP World Championship in the next match. This was my first time seeing Sanada in action. Perry got an STF early but Sanada got to the ropes. Perry connected with a dive to the floor a couple minutes later and then sent Sanada into the guardrail before going for another pin. Sanada tied Perry up in the Paradise Lock, a silly "move" in which one wrestler twists the other's hands and arm between their own legs (leaving them "locked" on the mat). Sanada hit him with a dropkick to break up the hold, but Perry quickly regained some control, hitting a Tiger Driver (Misawa-style powerbomb) after a big lariat. Sanada came back swinging, though, hitting a suplex. A strike exchange followed, both guys willingly accepting blows from the other. Sanada got Perry up in a fireman's carry but Perry countered it into Sanada's own finishing move, a dragon sleeper. Sanada got his foot on the rope and followed it up with a TKO (fireman's carry-into-a-cutter) for 2. After a failed Moonsault, Sanada went for his finish but Perry escaped and hit a reverse-rana but Sanada locked him up with a dragon sleeper and swung him around (not something I've seen before). Perry managed to turn it into a pin attempt but Sanada kicked out at 2. Perry tried another reverse-rana, only Sanada to hit him with one and then a Shining Wizard (The Great Muta's finish) for 2.5! Sanada went back up for a moonsault and nailed it to retain the title. In a company where Moonsault are so common, it didn't feel much like a finisher to a championship level. This was perfectly fine, but not particularly memorable. What was memorable was Jungle Boy's heel turn as he clotheslined HOOK at the top of the ramp (causing Taz to lose it on commentary). (2.5/5)

A 10-man tag followed with Eddie Kingston teaming up with Tomohiro Ishii, The Young Bucks, and "Hangman" Adam Page against the Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, Claudio Castignoli, and Wheeler Yuta with Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino. Highlights included Ishii and Takeshita's spirited strike exchange and shoulder-tackle trading, Page hitting a moonsault to the floor, Takeshita knocking Ishii out with one of the stiffest forearms I've seen in awhile, Takeshita's flying clothesline getting blocked by a Hangman's spinning forearm, The Bucks holding up Takeshita for a running shooting star press off the apron and hitting some of their signature, high-energy tandem offense, and the surprising twist of Kingston protected Moxley from a double superkick. What I wasn't a particular fan of was Kingston and Mox having an extended strike exchange in a match that had already featured one moments earlier. Also, with so much of this match built around stiff striking and Kingston's face-in-peril stretch, the Bucks and Hangman "disappeared" during the first half of the match. Schiavone noted on commentary that Takeshita was the "MVP" of this match and its hard to argue with that, though Claudio was very good as well. The finishing stretch was expertly timed and executed with everyone hitting their signature stuff in rapid succession and Ishii nearly taking Yuta's head off with a lariat before hitting his brainbuster for the win. I wouldn't call this essential viewing, but it was a fun match. (3/5)

Willow Nightingale challenged Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship next. This was pre-"Timeless," when Toni was still part of the going-nowhere stable known as The Outcasts with Paige and Ruby Soho. Nightingale was the NJPW Strong Women's Champion (I think I got that right), having defeated Mercedes Mone in Japan in an upset. This was okay, but not particularly memorable and even a little sloppy at times (Storm seemed to miss the mark entirely with her first Hip Attack on the apron). As others noted on Cagematch, this felt like a "TV match" of low consequence. (2.5/5)

Kenny Omega defended the IWGP United States Championship in the next match against Will Ospreay, but this was about more than just the belt as Ospreay was trying to even the score after losing to Omega at Wrestle Kingdom and was essentially trying to usurp Omega as the World's Greatest Wrestler. The match went close to 40 minutes and they threw everything they could at each other. As expected, they started with impressive "anything you can do, I can do better" sequences built around their quickness, agility, and counter-wrestling. Don Callis got tossed from ringside and, soon after, Ospreay got the advantage by slamming Omega's head into the announce table repeatedly and busting him open. They slowed things down a bit here, which is not a criticism but noteworthy because both guys have been criticized for a "more is better" approach to wrestling. Omega came back strong, though, and Ospreay ended up even bloodier after getting his forehead slammed into the steps. This match was loaded with huge, crazy spots including an awesome Oscutter on the apron following a Shooting Star Press on the ropes, a V-Trigger into the guardrail by Omega, Ospreay hitting a crazy corkscrew splash to the floor around the 30 minute mark, an extended section built around Ospreay disrespecting the Canadian flag, and even an absolutely nasty Tiger Driver 91'. I wasn't a fan of Callis returning towards the end of the match, but I will say it did lead to me biting on more than one near-fall towards the end. I even dug Omega channeling Hulk Hogan at one point in a moment that got a huge reaction from the Toronto crowd. Meltzer gave this an absurd 6-stars and it has an incredibly strong 9.56 on Cagematch right now, but I won't go quite as high. It is an undeniably great match and I'd even call it a "must watch," but this is a style of wrestling that can be very polarizing with the amount of kickouts and false finishes to moves that should/would otherwise be certain match-enders. That being said, I thought they still did a nice job of making things count and, against all odds and logic, raising the stakes as the match went on, always finding new moves and counters and cut-offs (Omega using a raised knee to stop an Oscutter attempt was brilliant in its simplicity, for example) to keep it engaging and not just feel like a "spotfest." (4/5)

Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara teamed up against Darby Allin, Sting, and Tetsuya Naito in the next match. This started off relatively strong and fun with good work between Guevara and Naito and then a good exchange between Allin and Suzuki, but then fell off the rails at one point and Sting looked particularly slow-moving and listless. The crowd was into it but had also just seen a very, very long match between Omega/Ospreay and this probably could've used more comedy and maybe some weaponry to keep the crowd engaged for its full 15-minute duration. I was a bit surprised that Darby didn't do more because he's fairly reliable for at least one crazy spot in every match he's in. Good on him for not risking permanent injury in what was a "filler" match between the two actual main events of the card. (2/5)

Main event time - Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. This match was hyped as a bout to determine who was The Best Wrestler In The World so not only were the stakes very high, but the hype and anticipation was through the roof. They get a "This Is Awesome" chant before they even lock-up, setting the bar even higher. I really liked the first third of this match as Danielson controlled and worked Okada's arm, trying to debilitate his foe and prevent him from using his Rainmaker finish. It was smart work. I'm not sure at what exact moment Danielson broke his arm, but the middle third of the match was noticeably a bit messy after Okada delivered an awesome Air Raid neckbreaker in the ring and then a tombstone piledriver on the ramp. I did not like Danielson "playing possum" by convulsing in the ring and the brief pause in the match as it felt cheap (and a bit heelish) in an otherwise ultra-competitive, no-frills, gritty battle. Things picked up in the final stretch but, by this point, Danielson's arm was clearly injured and he didn't have much energy in some of his offense (though at least that made sense considering they'd gone 20+ minutes). The finish felt a touch lackluster despite Danielson's submission looking gnarly as the crowd didn't really react to it. Unfortunately, wrestling fans have grown very accustom to matches ending with someone hitting their big finishing move or applying their signature submission and, by eschewing that formula, the match didn't end with the fever pitch "moment" that it deserved. A great and gutsy performance by Danielson, but, like so much of his AEW run (which is, admittedly, all I've seen from Okada), I'm not sure this match made much of a case for Okada being even in the top 5 Best Wrestlers on the planet in 2023. (3.5/5)

Forbidden Door 2023 was a small improvement from the underwhelming Double or Nothing show from a month earlier, earning a Kwang Score of 2.89-out-of-5. Omega and Ospreay delivered an insant classic if you're into their particular brand of non-stop action, rapid sequences, and state-of-the-art high spots (if this isn't your cup of tea, look elsewhere). Danielson/Okada had great moments but was marred by a clunky "midsection" caused by Danielson legitimately breaking his arm during the contest. Some of the other matches fell short of expectations, including the opener (which exposed just how far Tanahashi had fallen from his glory years) and the Jericho Appreciation Society six-man, which went needlessly long. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand