The consensus after the Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega match on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome, was that for the next 361 days of 2023, when it comes to match of the year, people will be fighting for second place as their match.
After AEW/New Japan Forbidden Door on 6/25 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the race has tightened up, and one could argue the field is fighting for third place, or perhaps fourth place when you factor in the Revolution Iron Man match with MJF and Bryan Danielson.
While the creativity, intensity, athleticism, and crowd reactions for the nearly 40:00 match were spectacular, the other feeling of watching these types of matches is one of concern.
Omega and Ospreay are so driven to put on classic matches that they’ve taken themselves to a dangerous place in attempting to top the levels they’ve already reached. We are long past the days when Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat could have one of the best matches anyone had ever seen, and then come back the next day and pretty much do it all again. Omega and Ospreay are working matches that have career-shortening consequences.
Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer explained the two problems with the Forbidden Door main event.
Bryan Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada in the main event of Forbidden Door on Sunday. Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio Monday morning said that the match was great, but not as great as he thought it would be. Both he and Meltzer agreed that one of the reasons was the crowd not being into the match due to Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay’s match, which they thought was a match of the year contender.
“If we had known what we knew, Osprey and Omega should have gone last,” Meltzer said.
Meltzer also brought up the other reason the match didn’t meet expectations: Danielson said at the post-show media scrum that he and the AEW medical team believe he fractured his right forearm near the end of the match.
“They changed the last several minutes of the match because they had to,” Meltzer said.
In the scrum, Danielson also admitted he suffered a torn labrum in the match against MJF back at AEW Revolution in March. Meltzer noted that it was concerning that Danielson has only wrestled twice since Revolution, but has injured himself both times.
“This one was more of a fluke. The Max match was just so brutal. You start piling up injuries like that and it’s not a good thing either,” he said.
Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
The Collision announce team
The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
How each segment did
The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece
Punk talks Adam Page
Contradictory stories
Original idea for Collision that changed
Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
Notes on PPV
The rest of the card
The Owen Hart tournament
Update on Wembley Stadium
Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
Money in the Bank update
Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
New Japan Strong shows in Japan
A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
Lots of injury updates
More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
Impact stars on major television show in Canada
More on B.J. Whitmer case
Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
Update on Bandido
International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, fallout from Forbidden Door and the latest news plus you can send questions to tonight’s show to [email protected]
From an injury perspective, as noted last night, it appeared that Bryan Danielson suffered a fractured forearm. The hope is that he can be back for All In and All Out. Kenny Omega was okay. He scared a lot of people with that Tiger drive ’91 spot and said he was a little bit sore, but that’s usually the case after a big match. There’s no update on Sting past he is scheduled to wrestle on Wednesday night in Hamilton, ONT where Chris Jericho brings back The Painmaker gimmick he used in New Japan. It’s Jericho & Sammy Guevara in a tornado match against Sting & Darby Allin, plus Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker in the Owen Hart tournament.
Collision is being taped on Thursday night for a Saturday airing in Hamilton, ONT with Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong, Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks and Dustin Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs in the Owen Hart tournament.
The flag spot in the Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay match was planned and the guy with the flag was a Canadian pro wrestler, Chip Chambers.
Raw tonight is from Savannah, GA. This was a very Vince McMahon show as he apparently made a ton of changes today as he’s become more and more into the creative process. Ronda Rousey vs. Raquel Rodriguez and all the women in the Money in the Bank match will appear in a summit segment. They had 6,531 tickets out as of this morning. It will be sold out or close because a legit sellout of the Enmarket Arena with a TV set up would be about 6,750 tickets.
The Smackdown crew house shows in Europe starting on Thursday night in Dublin, Ireland has Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defending the tag titles against Usos, Street Profits and Pretty Deadly, Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley & Bianca Belair for the women’s title, Austin Theory vs. A.J. Styles for the U.S. title, Bobby Lashley vs. Karrion Kross, Rey Mysterio vs. LA Knight, Sheamus & Ridge Holland vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson plus Solo Sikoa and Santos Escobar.
Dark Side of the Ring tomorrow night is on Junkyard Dog.
On Sunday night in Toronto those inside Scotiabank Arena were witness to a wrestling showcase normally reserved for those inside the Tokyo Dome. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay wrestled a match that used to only be available to fans via a 5-star rating. It wasn’t a match that was seemed attainable to watch in many circles on fandom, just something you’d hear about, rather than see. There was a mystique about it. Now, though, thanks to a partnership between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, matches such as Omega vs Ospreay are no longer destined to be just another match to gather dust around the water cooler. No, the fabled 5-star Tokyo Dome matches now happen live, in real-time in front of the North American eyes. “It was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen,” said an ecstatic AEW President Tony Khan. Indeed, the reception inside Scotiabank Arena would substantiate that claim, while others watching at home echoed it.
All Elite Wrestling’s Forbidden Door 2 is the latest example of anew generation of wrestling now available to fans sandwiched between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. At the top of the card this year alongside Omega and Ospreay was a dream bout between a pair of wrestlers considered two of the all-time greats in Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada. However it was Omega and Ospreay stealing the show in the third-to-last match, with Danielson admitting afterwards that, “I didn’t want to follow (that match).” Omega, a native of Winnipeg, and Ospreay, hailing from the United Kingdom, exchanged brutal punishment in and out of the ring for over 40 minutes before Ospreay was able to finally pin Omega to capture the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
“The energy was spectacular,” Ospreay said during a press conference after the event, noting the distinct home field advantage for Omega. “That’s probably one my happiest moments of my life, I mean that’s incredible, never felt that before in my entire life. Literally had 13,000 people just hating my guts.13,000-plus versus one.” While Omega is proudly Canadian, he will never be mistaken for the type of Canadian babyface that Bret Hart portrayed. Omega, instead, goes about his Canadian-ness in a quiet manner. However on Sunday night, Omega was a full-fledged Canadian hero, a direct contrast to Ospreay, who took time during the match to steal a Canadian flag from ringside and floss it between his legs, similar to what Shawn Michaels did in WWE in 1997. “Did I get in trouble for that Canada flag stuff?” Ospreay joked.
The success of the event went beyond just the wrestling product, though, as Khan noted to reporters afterwards that the money earned via ticket sales was the company’s highest grossing gate of all-time at over $1.2 million USD. The success at the box office and in the ring had the company founder grinning ear-to-ear. “It was exactly what I expected I had the highest of expectations,” said Khan. “This is one of my favourite wrestling cities.”
Danielson added that the crowd was hot that he and Okada, “could have pulled our pants down and people, at least at first, would have enjoyed it.” “When I came to Toronto, I was expecting one of the best wrestling cities in the world and they delivered it,” added Khan. “they showed why this is so great here. I had high expectations and, if anything, I feel like (Toronto) exceeded it. I expected it to be great and it was great.”
Outside the two aforementioned matches, the card was littered with big names. Joining Omega and Danielson were other AEW stalwarts such as MJF, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Sting, DarbyAllin, the Young Bucks and Hangman Adam Page, among others. While other NJPW talent included Sanada, Zack Sabre Jr., Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito, among others. Not losing the significance of the show was Danielson, who said, “when have you seen two companies work together like this in a way that is absolutely best for the wrestling fans?”
We were sorry to hear that Dan Parris, a long time Carolinas independent announcer, passed away this morning in his home. (thanks to Gene Restaino)
Sheamus will be at the NHL Awards airing on TNT at 8 pm.
Eric Bischoff shaved his head to help raise $13,500 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Other Notes
Pro Wrestling Revolver on 7/1 in Clive IA, for Cage of Horrors with Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel & Myron Reed vs. Steve Manders & Matt Justice & Mance Warner, Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey, Jake Crist vs. Kevin Blackwood for the Revolver title, Masha Slamovich & Jessicka vs. JT Dunn & Allie Katch, Fulton vs. Crash Jaxon in a dog collar match, El Phantasmo vs Gringo Loco vs. Bryan Keith plus Marina Shafir appears. On 7/8 in Grand Prairie, TX they have Alex Shelley vs. Wentz for the Revolver Remix title, Sami Callihan vs. Katch in a street right Rich Swann vs. Shane Taylor plus Abadon, Mike Bailey, Chris Bey, Ace Austin and JD Griffy. they also run 8/3 in Dayton, OH at the Calumet Center with Matt Cardona, Alex Shelley, Jake Crist and Slamovich.
Femmes Fatales/Smash from yesterday in Toronto before Forbidden Door: Nikita b Liza Hall, Miley & Kristara b Mary Lee Rose & KC Spinelli, Trish Adora b Vert Vixen, Nicole Matthews b Alexia Nicole to win the Femmes Fatales title, Taylor Rising b Harley Dylan, Mercedes Martinez b Vert Vixen-DQ, Jody Threat b Allie Katch in a no DQ match.
Defy & Progress from yesterday in Toronto: Psycho Mike & Brent Banks & Vaughn Vertigo b Evan Rivers & Travis Williams & Judas Icarus, Schaff b Bryan Keith, Charles Crowley b Gringo Loco. Spike Trivett b Artemis Spencer to keep the Progress title, Vert Vixen won over Session Moth Martina, Nicole Matthews and Allie Katch to keep the Defy women’s title, Bollywood Boyz b Matt Cross & Psycho Mike. Juventud Guerrera was supposed to team with Cross but was held up at customs (thanks to Dave Musgrave)
Power Slap takes place on 7/7 at the UFC Apex as part of UFC’s International Fight Week. It will stream worldwide on Rumble and the main event has light heavyweight champion Jay Hintz vs. Wovlerine, and starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Tiara James debuts for MLW on the 7/8 show in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.
Friday Night Lights from Warrior Wrestling this coming Friday at the football field at Marian Catholic High School has KC Navarro vs. Matt Cardona for the Warrior title, Konosuke Takeshita vs. Warhorse, Gringo Loco vs El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gabriel Fuerza for the Lucha title and more, including Skye Blue.
Tom Lawler vs. Luke Jacobs was announced for the 7/9 Rev Pro show at York Hall in London.
Chael Sonnen claimed that an Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckberg PPV show would do 10 million buys easy and could be closer to 20 million to 25 million. That couldn’t sound more far-fetched.
Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay attempted to outdo their match from Wrestle Kingdom 17. And they may have succeeded.
Omega and Osprey had an incredible, brutal, bloody match at Forbidden Door on Sunday. Whether or not it was better than their January 4 match at the Tokyo Dome will be up for debate. I do admit, I liked the crisp wrestling in the first match, something that’s a rarity in a lot of pro wrestling matches these days. But this match was on the same level, and if you like bloody brawls, this was definitely that. Regardless of which match was better, this absolutely will be in the conversation for match of the year.
I don’t know if I liked the Don Callis interference throughout the match, especially when he returned to the ring for the finish after being thrown out earlier. A new trope has emerged in pro wrestling where someone is thrown out by the referee, just to return later without any real repercussions. Way to kill that spot and the referee’s credibility! Still, all the shenanigans didn’t play into the finish, and one spot, where Callis told Ospreay to use Kota Ibushi’s kamigoye, was very well done.
With Ospreay’s win, the question now is if they will run it back one more time. Unlike the first match, where at times it seemed like they were holding back, they sure didn’t hold back in this match, and there wasn’t any hint that we could see this turn into a trilogy. I don’t think there are many people out there who wouldn’t want to see this a third time.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson was good. The problem with this match was twofold. One, Danielson injured his arm ten minutes before the finish, probably right as the match was to heat up. The submission finish was clever, and you have to give massive props to Danielson for thinking on his feet after the rest of the match likely had to be scrapped due to injury. Another problem with the match was they had to follow Omega and Ospreay, and that was too tall of a task to meet on this particular night.
There were other matches on the show too. Way too many, in fact. Let’s run the rest of the main card down.
Sting, Darby Allin, and Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki just didn’t hit the mark. This was held right after the Ospreay/Omega match and it was the textbook definition of a cooldown match. It’s interesting because while it seemed like at first they were building towards a Jericho/Sammy split, it seems like the idea is also Jericho and Sting, which could be a Wembley match. We’ll see what they lean towards.
Toni Storm and Willow Nightingale had a good match. I’ve always liked Nightingale as she’s one of those rare people that can get over as a natural babyface with a real connection with the crowd, which isn’t a quality a lot of people have. Jer work has improved a lot as well, and even though she didn’t win here she should continue to be highlighted, she’s someone special. It’s Storm vs. Hayter at Wembley, right?
The Elite and The Blackpool Combat Club had a fantastic ten man tag team match. The moments where Tomohiro Ishii (the MVP of the match) and Konosuke Takeshita went at it were awesome, I’d love to see a singles match between these two someday. The Eddie Kingston/Claudio Castagnoli feud was furthered here as well. They built heavily that Eddie hates Claudio and the two have unresolved issues. Kingston’s leaving soon for the G1 and thus won’t be at Death Before Dishonor next month, so maybe Final Battle?
SANADA and Jungle Boy had a fine match, but the Jungle Boy turn on Hook will be far more memorable. SANADA just doesn’t feel like a main event level champion. The build to the Double or Nothing main event pretty much solidified Jungle Boy’s future as a heel, and they pulled the trigger here. An FTW match is likely taking place between these two in the future.
Orange Cassidy retained the International title in a four-way, defeating Zack Sabre Jr., Katsuyori Shibata, and Daniel Garcia. This was good, but kind of got lost in the shuffle with all of the other matches going on. The three champions after the match all posed with their titles, so maybe some title vs. title matches are in the pipeline?
CM Punk and Satoshi Kojima had one of the better matches on the show. People in Toronto, for the record, mostly hated CM Punk and he made sure to be a total heel in the match. Kojima is someone that can still go, and he and Punk had a match where they mostly struck each other really hard. It was fun!
MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi was sad. It wasn’t a bad match, but it is clear that Tanahashi has entered the stage of his career where he can’t mask his limitations anymore. He’s banged up and it was obvious this weekend, both in this match and in the Collision match against Swerve Strickland. It’s enough to make you wonder why he’s doing the G1, which is in a matter of weeks. But it’s Tanahashi, he’s the ace of the company, and he’s going to work this schedule until he just can’t anymore.
Forbidden Door was mostly a very good show, with Omega vs. Ospreay, Punk vs. Kojima, and the ten man tag being the highlights. The road for AEW next leads to Wembley, and the big question there is: how is AEW going to run two big events in a two week span? We’ll soon find out.
Bryan Danielson believes he broke his forearm during his match at Forbidden Door.
During the Forbidden Door media scrum on Sunday night, Danielson said that he thought that he had broken his right forearm towards the end of the match between himself and Kazuchika Okada. When asked about potentially wrestling on Dynamite, he said that he expected to be out six to eight weeks.
“We think I fractured my right forearm with about ten minutes left to go,” he said. “But talking to our doctors, and I love the AEW medical staff and trainers, they think it’s going to be six to eight weeks for this specific injury.”
Danielson said that the spot that injured him was when Okada landed a top rope elbow, with Danielson noting that his arm wasn’t in a safe space when Okada landed. Danielson also revealed during the press conference that he suffered a torn labrum in the match against MJF at Revolution back in March.
Since the match with MJF, Danielson has only wrestled once, where he and the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club defeated The Elite in an Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing back in May.
Here are notes from the media scrum that took place following AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, featuring talent from both AEW and NJPW.
Sting and Darby Allin
When asked, Sting said he doesn’t see himself retiring in London.
The interview was cut short when Chris Jericho came in and challenged Sting and Darby to a tornado match for Wednesday’s Dynamite against Guevara and Jericho’s Painmaker persona. Jericho took a water bottle and hit it with his baseball bat. Tony Khan said he would make the match for Wednesday.
Will Ospreay
Khan called the match against Ospreay and Omega “one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen.”
Said he felt like the world’s eyes were on him for their first match, and felt it again the second time tonight.
Ospreay noted he felt that his body was breaking down, and as a result would likely wrap up doing independent dates this year.
Named Naomichi Marufuji as an opponent he’d like to face and said that the ball is in NOAH’s court as far as getting it done.
When asked about his recent injuries, he said that he partially tore his pectoral tendon recently. He has rehabbed it, but now there is a deformity that is permanent. He also said his shoulder “came out” in a recent match with Tanahashi and there is weakness in that area now.
Regarding All In, he says he’s wrestling Shingo Takagi the day before for RevPro. He said he’d love to, but he doesn’t work here. It’s down to Tony, but would like to work something out.
Toni Storm
Said he would like to face Stardom’s Giulia so she could “slap the t*** off of her”.
When asked about her gear, she denied that it was a tribute to her Stardom gear, that it simply was the gear that showed up for Sunday’s match.
Bryan Danielson
Says he intended to wrestle on Wednesdy’s Dynamite, but thinks he fractured his right forearm with about ten minutes left to go in the match. Praises the AEW medical staff and said he is likely out 6-8 weeks. Later, when asked about what he thought broke the forearm, Danielson said it was an elbow where he didn’t protect himself, calling it a freak accident.
He mentioned Ishii as a possible opponent in the future, saying it made him mad when he defeated Wheeler Yuta at Forbidden Door.
Says he didn’t want to follow Omega/Ospreay, but he has to put that aside.
Regaring wrestling in other places, right now the main focus is AEW and making AEW the best place it can be. He mentioned wanting to work the G1 tournament or for Defy Wrestling, but asks himself if it is worth the risk.
Danielson was asked if the injury changed the last ten minutes of the match. Danielson eventually said that it did.
When asked about All In, he praised Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay, but also mentioned other people in AEW such as Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, and PAC. He also said that a second match with Omega hasn’t taken place yet either.
Tony Khan
When asked about his biggest victory this weekend, Khan said it was breaking AEW’s biggest gate record.
Said that pay-per-view buys for this year’s Forbidden Door are bigger than last year’s and for Double or Nothing.
When asked about a Adam Cole update, Khan said Cole came sick today with a fever, sent him home. When Tom Lawlor’s available they will likely try and do the match again. Put over Lawlor as a great personality and wrestler.
Says he cannot share details due to international business, but everyone will be able to watch both All In and All Out.
Regarding CM Punk’s line about being “a Collision guy”, Khan said there was no hard roster split, and you’ll never know where you’ll see Punk.
Regarding Final Countdown, he says it was a one-night only deal and noted, like Danielson had mentioned earlier in the scrum, was very expensive. Khan said the deal was “as expensive as a wrestler’s contract”. However, he teased he could use it one more time in the future. He also said the rights are in perpetuity, so it can be used in AEW’s video library.
Bryan Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada in the “dream match” main event of Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view in Toronto.
Danielson scored a surprising submission victory over Okada with a modified LeBell Lock, using his legs to tie up Okada’s shoulders to force a tap out in front of a stunned Scotiabank Arena crowd.
Prior to the submission finish, Danielson kicked out of Okada’s Rainmaker finisher.
The match incorporated a spot where Danielson faked going into convulsions, playing off Danielson’s history of seizures as a result of concussions that forced him to retire from the ring from 2015 to 2018.
The clean submission victory presents the opportunity for a rematch on a big stage down the road, with NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom a potential destination for a second bout.
Another surprise in the main event segment came when Danielson entered to Europe’s “The Final Countdown,” his longtime Ring of Honor entrance song.
Okada vs. Danielson capped a pay-per-view event that set AEW’s all-time gate record as they ran for a second consecutive night in Toronto.
Earlier in the evening, Will Ospreay defeated Kenny Omega in another “dream match” to regain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
CM Punk has advanced to the semifinals of the AEW Owen Hart Foundation men’s tournament.
Punk defeated NJPW’s Satoshi Kojima in a quarterfinals bout at Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view in Toronto to advance, pinning Kojima after hitting a Go To Sleep.
Similar to Saturday’s Collision in Toronto, Punk received a mixed reaction from the Toronto crowd at Forbidden Door, and he played into the negative side of the response with exaggerated heelish mannerisms.
The bout was Punk’s first singles match since last September’s All Out pay-per-view, where he defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World title in a bout where he tore his left triceps.
Punk now awaits the winner of the quarterfinals bout between Roderick Strong and Samoa Joe, with those two set to square off on this week’s Collision episode.
On the other side of the bracket, Dustin Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs is one quarterfinals bout, and the other is Ricky Starks vs. Juice Robinson. Both of those matches are also set for this week’s Collision, which will be taped on Thursday in Hamilton, Ontario and will air Saturday.
Jungle Boy laid out Hook following his loss at Forbidden Door.
After he lost the IWGP World Heavyweight title match against champion SANADA, Jungle Boy was being helped to the back by Hook, who had been cornering him. As they made their way to the stage, Hook raised Jungle Boy’s hand as a sign of respect. However, Jungle Boy responded by giving Hook a lariat, sending him to the floor. After mocking the fans, he started to make his exit but not before grabbing Hook’s FTW Championship and throwing at Hook, who was still on the floor.
Hook’s father Taz, who did commentary for the match, left the announce team after the angle and was replaced by Tony Schiavone.
In the weeks following Double or Nothing, Jungle Boy rekindled his tag team with Hook. The two defeated Dralistico and Preston Vance in a Texas Tornado tag team match on the June 7 edition of Dynamite. Jungle Boy later said that he still wanted to be a champion by the end of the year, and accepted SANADA’s open challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight title at Forbidden Door.
Athena has advanced to the semifinals of the AEW Owen Hart Foundation women’s tournament.
The ROH Women’s World Champion defeated Billie Starkz in a quarterfinal bout at Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Zero Hour show in Toronto to advance to the semifinals.
Athena will now face Willow Nightingale in the semifinals at a date to be announced after Nightingale defeated Nyla Rose on Saturday’s Collision show in Toronto to advance.
With the win on Sunday, Athena extends a singles match winning streak that goes back to September of last year, with her last singles defeat coming to Jade Cargill in a TBS title match at All Out on September 4, 2022.
On the other side of the bracket, Skye Blue defeated Anna Jay on Friday’s Rampage episode to advance to the semifinals, and now awaits the winner of this Wednesday’s Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker quarterfinal matchup.
Soho and Baker is a rematch of last year’s tournament finals, a match won by Baker at last May’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
More pre-show matches have been added to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Zero Hour.
Three more matches have been added to Sunday’s event in Toronto. El Phantasmo will meet Stu Grayson in a singles match. Two six-man trios matches have also been added: United Empire (TJP, Jeff Cobb, and Kyle Fletcher) vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, and BUSHI and Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Toa Liona, and Kaun) vs. Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, and El Desperado.
The fourth match had been previously announced. ROH Women’s Champion Athena will face Billie Starks in a quarterfinal Owen Hart Foundation tournament match. The winner will face Willow Nightingale, who advanced on Saturday’s Collision event.
Here’s the current card for Sunday:
IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega defends against Will Ospreay
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA defends against Jungle Boy
AEW World Champion MJF defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm defends against Willow Nightingale
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Daniel Garcia, Zack Sabre Jr. and Katsuyori Shibata in a four-way
Eddie Kingston, Tomohiro Ishii and The Elite (The Young Bucks & Hangman Page) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Shota Umino and Konosuke Takeshita
Adam Cole vs. Tom Lawlor
Sting, Darby Allin & Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara
Owen Hart Foundation men’s quarterfinal: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
Zero Hour pre-show: Owen Hart Foundation women’s quarterfinal: Athena vs. Billie Starkz
Zero Hour pre-show: Mogul Embassay (Swerve Strickland, Toa Liona, and Kaun) vs. Trent Baretta, Rocky Romero, and El Desperado
Zero Hour pre-show: United Empire (TJP, Jeff Cobb, and Kyle Fletcher) vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, and BUSHI
More matches have been added to Forbidden Door this Sunday, including two title matches.
Toni Storm will face NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale in a match that will be for Storm’s AEW Women’s Championship. Meanwhile, Orange Cassidy will defend the AEW International title in a four-way match that includes Daniel Garcia, Zack Sabre Jr., and Katsyuori Shibata. After Garcia & Sabre defeated Shibata & Cassidy on Wednesday’s Dynamite, all four grabbed the International title, with Cassidy yanking the title away from Shibata’s grasp.
Multi-man matches have also been announced. Eddie Kingston on Dynamite agreed to team with the Young Bucks and Hangman Page to take on Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita. Kingston told The Elite he would pick the fifth person on their team, and eventually chose Ishii as a partner.
Darby Allin & Sting accepted a challenge from Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara on Dynamite after the latter team defeated Action Andretti, AR Fox, and Darius Martin. However, Allin & Sting said they would reveal their partner on Saturday’s Collision.
Two Owen Hart tournament matches have also been added. Athena will face Billie Starks in the Zero Hour pre-show, while CM Punk will face Satoshi Kojima on the main card.
Here is the updated lineup for Forbidden Door:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: SANADA defends against Jungle Boy
AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm defends against Willow Nightingale
AEW International title: Orange Cassidy defends against Daniel Garcia, NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr., and Katsyuori Shibata
IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega defends against Will Ospreay
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
Eddie Kingston, Tomohiro Ishii, The Young Bucks, and Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita
Sting, Darby Allin, and ??? vs. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara
Owen Hart Foundation tournament: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
Zero Hour, Owen Hart Foundation tournament: Athena vs. Billie Starks
A match for the AEW World Championship will take place at Forbidden Door.
Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video on Wednesday’s Dynamite and said that he came close to defeating Jon Moxley at last year’s Forbidden Door in a match that was for the then vacant AEW World Championship. He then issued the challenge to MJF. In a backstage promo immediately after, MJF rejected the idea of facing someone “from a rinky-dink indy promotion in Japan”. He said that even if Tony Khan had booked it, it wouldn’t be the first time he no-showed a booking.
Earlier on Dynamite, MJF had wrestled Adam Cole to a thirty minute time limit draw in an AEW World Championship eliminator match. After Cole asked for five more minutes, MJF walked to the back, denying Cole any more time.
Here is the updated lineup for Forbidden Door:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: SANADA defends against Jungle Boy
AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega defends against Will Ospreay
The first two matches have been set for Forbidden Door later this month.
Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship and Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson were officially confirmed by NJPW on Tuesday morning. NJPW aired a short press conference on YouTube with comments from both Ospreay and Okada.
Ospreay in his statement reflected back on his loss against Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January, saying that he got embarrassed at the Tokyo Dome by the returning prodigal son. He said now he will repay the favor, and that it’s about revenge. He’s going to do the same exact thing that Omega did to him.
Okada sat down for a short press conference, saying he was looking forward to facing Danielson, but also beating him. He ended his statement by directly addressing Danielson, saying let’s see who is the real best in the world at Forbidden Door.
The lineup so far for Forbidden Door:
IWGP United States title: Kenny Omega defends against Will Ospreay
