Tony Khan, Jay White, Jon Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, Claudio Castagnoli, Thunder Rosa, and FTR spoke to the media following AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
Below are notes and quotes from the press conference.
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Tony Khan
Khan spoke on the success of Forbidden Door, and said that anything over 100,000 worldwide pay-per-view buys he would consider a success, and that he felt confifdent based on streaming numbers that the show is on track to reach that mark.
As to putting the show together, Khan said he was more proud of Forbidden Door than any show since Double or Nothing 2020 and praised NJPW as partners.
“Other than the early shutdown, lockdown wrestling of 2020, this is probably the biggest creative challenge I’ve ever faced, but I think we’ve come through and did a great show,” he said. “Probably since Double or Nothing 2020, I can’t remember being so proud of something that came together so quickly and changed a lot… So it was pretty special.”
Khan said that he reached out to Claudio on June 2 about the possibility of coming in to work for AEW or debuting in ROH at their next pay-per-view on July 23.
“It was June 2 I called, and there was definitely mutual interest. But I wasn’t sure if he would be coming in here, or [ROH] Death Before Dishonor, July 23,” Khan said.
“I asked him about coming in before I knew for sure that Bryan [Danielson] was out, but I had a pretty good idea [CM] Punk would be out… We already had a lot of injured people, I had no idea we’d have even more on the run up to the show,” said Khan.
Khan said he spoke to Danielson last weekend and Danielson said that he was not feeling 100 percent, and mentioned Castagnoli as a potential replacement. Khan said he then told Danielson that he had Castagnoli under contract, and that Danielson was the first person he had told. Khan said he made the call not to put Danielson on the show last weekend.
Jay White
White answered questions in-character and spoke briefly about his career accolades.
Jon Moxley
Moxley said that he feels absolute joy in wrestling right now.
“That feeling, when you’re doing what you were put on earth to do, like, the absolute pleasure of being dialed in, and the pleasure of wrestling… there’s no drug that can compare to this. What a feeling to just be out there with Tanahashi,” Moxley said.
Kazuchika Okada
Okada appeared and spoke largely through translator Chris Charlton.
Okada said that the crowd in Chicago was great and he hopes that as restrictions on crowds ease in Japan that the same sort of atmosphere will return there.
Okada said that there is no language barrier in pro wrestling, as long as he can say “Make it rain,” that the communication between the wrestlers and the audience is the language of pro wrestling.
Okada said jokingly that other than Tony Khan, that it’s up to the audience to clamor for who they want to see him face in AEW.
Claudio Castagnoli
Castagnoli said that his familiarity with a large portion of the AEW roster and circumstances just made this the right time for his AEW debut.
“Sometimes the stars align for a perfect moment, and that’s what happened tonight. I hope Bryan [Danielson] is alright, I know he’ll be back, but this is just a perfect fit,” he said.
When asked about potential opponents, Castagnoli said that he is excited to face anyone and everyone.
“I’m always looking for new challenges. Here in AEW, I’m like a kid in a candy store,” Claudio said.
“There’s just so many guys that I’ve known for years. Orange Cassidy is one of them. To me, the thing that’s the most important is that the fans are excited. Who’s my dream opponent? I don’t care. Who do you guys want to see me wrestle? And here in AEW, all that stuff can happen.”
Thunder Rosa
Thunder Rosa appeared and did some in-character comments on Jade Cargill. She also spoke about her gear choices, and how she chooses different gear or makeup based on different cosplay elements.
Rosa brought up the importance of having different looks so that a variety of action figures can be made for more income. Khan mentioned that he asked Rosa to wear green for the St. Patrick’s Day Slam episode of Dynamite.
She also spoke about Dustin Rhodes’ influence on her career, that she calls herself his wrestling daughter, and that he has allowed her to use some of his moves.
FTR
Both Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler spoke of their hopes to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles in NJPW, that they have had their eyes on that for a while, but now it looks to be a reality with travel restrictions opening up.
Harwood spoke about being grateful for the opportunity to provide for his family in wrestling. He said that every week when he goes to work, he uses that as an example to his daughter of how she can be anything she wants to be.
Wheeler spoke about wanting to have “an FTR run” with the AEW Tag titles, years-long.
They spoke about their music change and how it worked out for them. Harwood said that Khan was a wrestling genius and the music change that Khan suggested worked in improving FTR’s presentation as babyfaces.
Khan said that FTR have become better and more confident wrestlers since CM Punk arrived in AEW.
Harwood and Wheeler spoke about their singles match and said that other than one or two spots, any Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart tribute spots were subconscious and that they were not looking to rip anyone off.
Adam Cole is believed to have suffered a concussion during tonight’s Forbidden Door event.
Bryan Alvarez is reporting that Cole is believed to have suffered a concussion during tonight’s four-way IWGP World Heavyweight title match.
The finish of the match had Kazuchika Okada go for the rainmaker on Cole, who ducked the clothesline and collapsed to the floor. Jay White, who was outside of the ring, came in and delivered the bladerunner to Okada. White then rolled Cole over and pinned him to retain the championship.
After the match, AEW medical staff checked on Cole as The Young Bucks and Kyle O’Reilly came to the ring, stared down Hangman Page, then checked on Cole.
Prior to tonight, Cole hadn’t wrestled since the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament final at Double or Nothing back on May 29, defeating Samoa Joe. He was originally scheduled for a ten man tag team match on the following Wednesday’s Dynamite, but was removed from the match shortly after the announcement.
Katsuyori Shibata made an appearance at tonight’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event, aiding Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice.
After Will Ospreay successfully defended the IWGP United States Championship against Orange Cassidy, he and Aussie Open attacked Cassidy. Roppongi Vice came out for the save, but they were laid out as well. Shibata’s music then hit as he made his way out and cleared the ring. He put Ospreay in the rear naked choke, but Aussie Open grabbed Ospreay out of harm’s way as they retreated to the back.
After the United Empire left, Orange Cassidy returned to the ring and met Shibata. He started to put on his glasses, but then stopped and put them on Shibata. The two posed as the segment ended.
Shibata serves as the head coach of NJPW’s dojo in Los Angeles. He has largely been retired since 2017 after suffering a subdural hematoma in a match against Kazuchika Okada. However, he returned to the ring earlier this year on the January 4 Wrestle Kingdom 16 card, where he defeated Ren Narita.
In a four-way match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, PAC defeated Miro, Malakai Black, and NJPW’s Clark Connors to become the first All-Atlantic Champion, using his Brutalizer submission to tap out Connors and claim victory.
Miro seemed to have had the match won, but Black sprayed him with black mist, forcing him to give up the Game Over submission hold that Miro had applied on PAC. Black then tried a submission hold on Connors, but PAC broke it up with a Black Arrow. PAC then used the Brutalizer for the win.
PAC, Miro, and Black survived the qualifying series that began on the June 8 AEW Dynamite to advance to the finals at Forbidden Door. Tomohiro Ishii won a tournament in Japan to earn the spot as NJPW’s representative in the match, but was scratched in the days leading up to the show with a knee injury. Connors then took Ishii’s place in the match.
The victory is the first title win for PAC in AEW.
More than two months after it was first announced, AEW & NJPW will put on their first-ever co-promoted pay-per-view: Forbidden Door.
The sold-out show is headlined by Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World title.
IWGP Champion Jay White will defend the title in a four-way against Kazuchika Okada, Hangman Page & Adam Cole with IWGP U.S. Champion Will Ospreay defends against Orange Cassidy.
AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa defends against Toni Storm while Malakai Black, Clark Connors, Miro & PAC will vie for the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic title.
Both the IWGP and ROH Tag Team titles will be up for grabs as FTR faces Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan and Roppongi Vice in a three-way.
Zack Sabre Jr. will face a new mystery member of the Blackpool Combat Club, while Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara take on Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino.
In trios action, the Young Bucks & El Phantasmo take on Sting, Darby Allin & Shingo Takagi.
Three matches are also scheduled for The Buy-In pre-show.
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Live from Chicago, Illinois.
The Buy In
Kevin Kelly(!!), Excalibur and Taz are on commentary for the pre-show and they ran down the pay-per-view card.
Another nice touch, New Japan’s ring announcer Takuro Shibata handled the ring introductions along with AEW’s Justin Roberts. Competitors were announced in English and Japanese.
YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Aaron Solo and QT Marshall (8:54)
HASHI and Goto are former IWGP Tag Team Champions. The arena looks very full and like a big time arena for the show. YOSHI-HASHI and Solo started the match. Solo took the wind out of HASHI’s sails with a beautiful dropkick. The crowd greeted Marshall with “QT sucks!” chants. Goto took Marshall down with one hard chop and he quickly tagged out. Goto and HASHI got their double team “war drums” on both Solo and Marshall, but the heels got the advantage after Marshall hit the ugliest Flying Space Tiger Drop, and Solo followed up with a double stomp off the top onto Goto.
Goto reversed a suplex attempt from Solo and turned Marshall inside out with a vicious lariat. YOSHI-HASHI got the tag and took Marshall down with a head hunter (top rope blockbuster) for a near fall. Solo sent both his opponents to the floor and hit a tope con hilo, then tossed HASHI back in the ring. Marshall hit the cutter after a pair of enziguris, but Goto made the save. Marshall went for a 450 splash that missed, and HASHI took Solo down with a dropkick to the knees. Goto took out Marshall with the ushigoroshi, then Goto and HASHI hit their double-team finish on Solo to get the pin.
Lance Archer defeated Nick Comoroto (6:08)
Excalibur and Kelly on commentary called this one a “hoss fight.”
Archer tried a forward flip into the ring on Comoroto and landed on his head again. Comoroto got Archer up for a gorilla press, but Archer slid out and took Comoroto down with a boot, then sent him to the floor with a flying tackle. After a brawl on the floor, Comoroto hit a big elbow drop but didn’t even get a one count. Comoroto dominated for a bit, but Archer came back with a big boot and his rope walk moonsault. Thankfully, Archer did not land on his head again. Comoroto got a powerslam for a near fall. Comoroto went to the top, but Archer caught him with a knee, then awkwardly got him in position for the Blackout and scored the pin. Parts of this were bowling shoe ugly.
– Alex Marvez interviewed Clark Conners. He said he hoped Tomohiro Ishii “Get’s bell soon.”
Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado (12:04)
It looked like Lee has dropped some noticeable weight. Kanemaru lured Lee into the corner and frustrated Lee with his speed for a bit, until Lee grabbed him by the face and spiked him down like a basketball. Tags were made on both sides and Desperado caught Strickland with his numero dos leglock, but Strickland got a rope break. When the fight went to the floor, Desperado got the numero dos locked on Strickland, stretching Strickland’s knee against the back of his head.
Back in the ring, Strickland caught Desperado with a middle rope dropkick. Strickland accidentally dropkicked Lee in the knee and the Japanese team took control. Lee went for a Spirit Bomb on Kanemaru, but Desperado caught Lee with a dropkick and Kanemaru took Lee down with a rana. Strickland got the tag and got a brainbuster on Desperado for a near fall. Desperado came back with a spinebuster. A back suplex into a kick got Desperado a near fall. Lee tried to step into the ring, but Desperado kicked the middle rope (effectively low-blowing Lee) and Lee went down.
Strickland hit a inverted backbreaker and a flatliner on Desperado. Lee and Kanemaru got the tags for their teams, and Kanemaru went back after Lee’s legs. Kanemaru locked in the figure four on Lee and Deserado got numero dos on Strickland,, but Lee got ahold of Desperado by the throat and tossed him into Kanemaru to break the hold. Kanemaru went for a sunset flip on Lee, but countered with another spirit bomb attempt, that was broken up by Desperado. Kanemaru took a swig from his trademark whiskey bottle and spat it into Lee’s face and went for a cradle, but that only got two. Strickland took out Desperado with a kick, and Lee got Kanemaru with a massive Big Bang Catastrophe and got the pin. Very good match with great psychology from Desperado and Kanemaru constantly all over Lee’s legs.
After the match, Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs cut a money promo from one of the skyboxes, challenging Lee and Strickland for a match.
Max Caster, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn (w/ Anthony Bowens) defeated Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight & The DKC (5:34)
One of the Gunns thought they were in the Tokyo Dome, and the other thought they were in Green Bay. You can guess which mistake got more heel heat.
Before the match, Danhausen interrupted from the Khan Tron with a gift, the “A$$ Boys!” theme. Bill and Colton ran off to find Danhausen, and the match was 4-on-2 in favor of the LA Dojo. And since one of the two is Billy Gunn, it’s four against one, with Caster taking all the abuse from the New Japan team.
Uemura got a near fall on Caster with a bulldog. Caster showed some great fire as a babyface fighting from underneath. Caster finally made his comeback and got the tag to Billy Gunn. Knight hit Gunn with a dropkick, but Gunn came back with a Famouser on Couglin. Caster hit the top rope elbow on Coughlin for the pin.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the catalyst for the Acclaimed turning babyface on the Gunns.
AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door.
Kevin Kelly, Taz, and Excalibur were on commentary for the pay-per-view. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone came out for matches later.
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara (w/ Tay Conti) defeated Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino (18:57)
Kevin Kelly recommended the other commentators not even make eye contact with Minoru Suzuki. That is very good advice. A clip from 2018 showed Jericho attacking Shota Umino when he was a Young Lion in the Tokyo Dome. And of course, Suzuki has quite a history of attacking Young Lions for no reason.
Jericho started with Yuta who hit him with six rolling German suplexes. Yuta followed up with a crossface that was quickly broken up by Guevara. Both teams started brawling around ringside, where Umino hit Suzuki with forearms to no effect.
The match settled down in the ring to Guevara and Yuta. Umino got the tag and kept looking over at Suzuki. Jericho took a beating from Umino. Kingston got the tag, and Jericho tagged in Suzuki.
Kingston and Suzuki exchanged chops. Kingston backed Suzuki into the corner for the machine gun chops to little effect. Suzuki dropped Kingston with a forearm with the crowd behind him. Kingston came back with the machine gun chops on Jericho and sent Guevara flying to the floor with one chop. Suzuki caught Kingston with the arm scissor in the ropes leading to Jericho attacking Kingston’s arm.
Suzuki hit the PK kick on Kingston for a near fall. Suzuki, Guevara and Jericho each locked one of their opponents in a submission hold in a clever spot. Guevara dove off the top and into an exploder suplex from Kingston. Umino took Suzuki out with an elbow and a dropkick, then got a near fall with a fisherman’s suplex. Guevara hit a shooting star press to the floor on Umino. Yuta and Kingston followed with dives of their own. Suzuki teased his own dive, but took out Umino with a forearm instead.
Kingston hit a backdrop diver on Guevara and locked in the stretch plum, but Suzuki broke it up. Kingston hit Suzuki with a backfist. Everyone started hit crazy moves on everyone else, Jericho a suplex on Kingston, Guevara a cutter on Umino and Yuta a splash from the top on Guevara.
Guevara hit a knee on Umino and Jericho followed up with the code breaker for a near fall. Umino hit Jericho with a powerslam from the middle rope for a near fall. Conti distracted Wheeler Yuta and Guevara was able to blindside Yuta with the GTH on the floor. Guevara caught Umino with a batshot. But he still got a near fall on Jericho with a brain buster. Umino locked in a Boston Crab, but Gevara broke it up with a pair of superkicks. Suzuki took out Kingston with the Gotch Style piledriver. This left Umino 3-on-1 with the heels, and even though he managed to dispose of Suzuki and Guevara, Jericho hit Umino with the Judas effect and Jericho got the pinfall.
Jericho’s team will have the advantage on Wednesday in Blood and Guts.
Great opener that sets up Jericho putting over Umino huge somewhere down the line. Umino looked like a star in the making here.
FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defeated Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero) and United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships and retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships (16:21)
Caprice Coleman joined the commentary team for this match, and ROH ring announcer Bobby Cruise handled the ring introductions.
Early in the match, Harwood appeared to hurt his shoulder on an elbow drop. Dr. Sampson checked on him and Wheeler was concerned. Harwood went to the back with Sampson. (Dave Meltzer confirmed on twitter this was all storyline).
This left Wheeler alone to be double teamed by the United Empire. Cobb looked great against Wheeler. Trent got the tag from Wheeler and took out O-Khan with a half-and-half suplex. Beretta went for the spinning DDT on Cobb, but Cobb blocked it.
Roppongi Vice and United Empire brawled on the floor, where Beretta hit O-Khan with a spear. Back in the ring. Beretta hit a sliding knee strike on O-Khan for two. Cash tagged himself back in and took the fight to the United Empire. The match broke down, and while Wheeler was crawling to his own corner with no one to tag, Harwood came back to the ring (getting a huge pop) with his shoulder taped up.
Harwood got the tag from Wheeler and took the fight to Cobb and O-Khan. Harwood took out O-Khan with a clothesline and hit three rolling Germans on Cobb. The crowd was even more behind FTR than they were before.
Beretta and Harwood teamed up to superplex Cobb, and Wheeler flew in off the top with a splash for two. Wheeler and Romero teamed up to spike piledrive O-Khan. Beretta went for Strong Zero on Cobb, but Cobb countered with a powerbomb.
Cobb hit the standing moonsault on Romero, then O-Khan tossed Beretta into a German suplex from Cobb for a near fall. Romero took out Wheeler and O-Khan with a tope, then teamed up with Beretta for Strong Zero on Cobb for a near fall. Harwood tagged himself in and got caught with a O’Conner role that was definitely a three but was only supposed to be two. The crowd chanted impolite things at the ref while Romero and Harwood exchanged near falls. Out of nowhere, Wheeler and Harwood hit the Big Rig on Romero and got the pin. FTR are now the IWGP, ROH and AAA Tag Team Champions.
Coleman and Kelly are thrilled they will get to call more FTR tag matches in ROH and New Japan, respectively.
Very good match, but I didn’t really like the storyline that kept the best wrestler out of the match for a long period of time.
–Tony Schiavone interviewed Juice Robinson (with the IWGP US Title belt over his shoulder) and IWGP World Champion Jay White. Robinson said the Ospreay/Cassidy match is just to crown a number one contender.
PAC won a fatal four way against Malakai Black, Miro and Clark Connors for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship (15:05)
Miro dominated most of the match, but Pac came out with the victory and became the first AEW All-Atlantic Champion.
Pac and Black went after each other early on, and Connors tried to lay low until Miro drug him into the fight. Black got a leglock on Connors, and Miro pulled him out of his ring by his hair to keep him from submitting.
Miro caught Pac coming off the top with a fallaway slam. Miro hit an uranage on Connors for a near fall. Black and Miro worked over PAC with stomps, occasionally getting in each other’s way. Miro dumped Black to the floor, then caught Pac with a spinebuster for a near fall.
Miro set up the machka kick, but PAC caught him with a superkick, then took out Black with a plancha. Pac hit the shotgun dropkick on Miro, then German suplexed Black right on his head. Black hit Pac with a knee strike. Connors hit a suplex on Black, but couldn’t do the same to Miro.
Black dropped to the floor and pulled out a table. Black leaned the table against the ring barricade. After Miro and Black teased putting the other through the table, Connors speared Miro through the table.
Back in the ring, Connors hit Black with a spinning powerslam, then caught Pac with a spear. Connors hit the “trophy kill” on Pac (an inverted blue thunder bomb) for a near fall. The crowd started getting behind Connors with a “Let’s Go Clark!” chant. Conners ran into a superkick from Pac. Pac went for the Black Arrow but Malakai Black caught him. This set up the superplex stacker spot with Miro on the bottom, powerbombing everyone.
Miro tossed out Black and Connors, hit the machka kick on Pac, then locked in the Game Over. Black hit Miro with the black mist. Black tried to lock Connors in a hold, but Pac came off the top with Black Arrow, then locked Connors in the Brutalizer to get the tap out and the All-Atlantic Championship.
Great match.
Tony Schiavone did commentary for the next match.
Sting, Darby Allin & Shingo Takagi defeated Bullet Club members The Young Bucks & El Phantasmo (12:59)
This was the party match of the night.
Sting was introduced with the other babyfaces, but did not come out. When The Young Bucks and Phantasmo came out, the arena went dark. When the lights came back on, Sting was standing on the entrance tunnel, and dove off the top onto the Bullet Club team. Allin took out Hikuleo with his skateboard and both teams brawled to the ring to start the match.
Allin got triple teamed in the Bullet Club corner and Excalibur pointed out this is the first time Allin and The Young Bucks have touched in the ring. El Phantasmo and Matt Jackson competed to see who could do the most overexaggerated Rube Goldberg set up into a backrake. Allin got hung up in the corner and triple dropkicked by the Bucks and Phantasmo. Allin came back with a spider German suplex on Phantasmo.
Allin caught Phantasmo with a Code Red and tagged Shingo. Takagi took the fight to the Bucks, getting a near fall on Nick Jackson after a twisting snap suplex. Takegi hit a Death Valley Driver on Nick and tagged in Sting. Phantasmo tried to give Sting a purple nurple, but that backfired and Sting hit the Stinger Spash.
Hikuleo distracted the ref and Phantasmo lowblowed Sting. The Young Bucks invited Sting to a Superkick Party, but Sting RSVP’d no sale and took them both out with clotheslines.
Sting got the tag to Allin, who went for a Coffin Drop, but Matt got his knees up. The Bucks hit Allin with More Bang for Your Buck, and Phantasmo came off the top with a splash for a near fall. The Bucks hit dives on Shigo and Allin on the floor, and Phantasmo followed up with a rope walk moonsault on the floor. Sting teased his own dive on the Bullet Club, but they cut him off with a triple superkick. The Bucks went for the BTE Trigger, but Sting ducked and hit the Bucks with a double scorpion death drop. Sting then gave Phantasmo a purple nurple and a low blow. Allin took out Hikuleo with a coffin drop to the floor. Schiavone: “What a fun match!”
Back in the ring, Takagi and Phanatsmo were legal, and Takagi got a near fall with the Pumping Bomber. Shingo hit the Made in Japan on Phantasmo and got the pin.
Fun party match.
– Wednesday, September 21st AEW returns to Authur Ashe Stadium for Dynamite and Rampage.
–Tony Schiavone interviewed Shota Umino, but Jericho interrupted and hit him with a fireball.
Thunder Rosa defeated Toni Storm to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship (10:40)
The match was pretty technical early on, until Storm nailed Rosa with an aggressive slap. Rosa caught Strom with a leaping cutter and some diving dropkicks against the ropes. Rosa got a near fall with a Norther Lights suplex. Storm countered a Fire Thunder Driver with a roll up, but Rosa rolled through and caught Storm with a double stomp.
Storm tried a spinning DDT on the floor, but Rosa blocked it and hit a Northern Lights suplex. Storm caught Rosa with a German suplex on the apron, then hit the spinning DDT on the floor. Back in the ring, Storm murdered Rosa with the hip attack and got a near fall with a DDT.
Rosa hit a running knee strike and a death valley driver. Rosa planted Storm with the Fire Thunder Driver but it only got two. Rosa went for a kick, but Storm caught her with a German suplex instead. But Storm’s left shoulder was hurting and Storm couldn’t hit the stuff piledriver. Rosa hit Dustin Rhodes’ finisher, the Final Reckoning, and got the pinfall. This was okay, but I think Storm should have gone over here.
Jim Ross joined the commentary team for the rest of the show.
Will Ospreay (w/ Aussie Open) defeated Orange Cassidy to retain the IWGP US Championship (16:44)
Ospreay, despite being US Champion, still does not have the IWGP US Title Belt. Ospreay wore his RevPro belt to the ring.
Ospreay looks absolutely huge next to Cassidy, who early on wrestled with his hands in his pockets while mostly avoiding contact from Ospreay. Ospreay caught Cassidy with a hot shot to take the advantage, then splashed Cassidy against the ring barricade with help from Aussie Open.
Ospreay hit a spinning side backbreaker for a near fall, then slowed the pace of the match. Ospreay locked on an abdominal stretch, then stuck his hand into Cassidy’s pocket and pulled out a middle finger. Cassidy caught Ospreay with a crossbody but Ospreay didn’t let up. Ospreay hit a diving elbow to the back of Cassidy’s head for a near fall.
Ospreay hit the Kawada kicks on Cassidy, but Cassidy fired up and came back with a dropkick. Cassidy hit his own low impact version of the Kawada kicks and Ospreay was not impressed. Cassidy caught Ospreay with a superkick and then really unleashed the Kawada kicks.
Cassidy avoided a Oscutter, then countered a suplex with the Stundog Millionaire. Cassidy hit the Michinoku driver for two. Cassidy hit another spinning DDT. Cassidy took out Aussie Open, then hit a diving DDT off the top for a near fall. Ospreay caught Cassidy with a Spanish Fly.
Ospreay hit the Cheeky Dando kick in the corner. Cassidy and Ospreay fought up to the top, and Cassidy sent Ospreay into the camera mounted on the post. Cassidy then started “selling” an injury (a la Eddie Guerrero) in an attempt to lure Ospreay into taking a chance, and it worked. Cassidy caught Ospreay with the Beach Break for a very close near fall.
Ospreay came back with a cutter and the Oscutter for a near fall. Ospreay went for the Hidden Blade, but Cassiddy avoided it. Ospreay went for the Storm Breaker, but Cassidy countered with a rana into a cradle for another near fall. Ospreay hit the Hidden Blade but it only got two and the crowd went nuts. Ospreay was shocked, but went right into the Stormbreaker and got the finish. This match got GREAT at the end.
After the match, Aussie Open beat up Cassidy. Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta tried to make the save, but got laid out. Then, Katsuyori Shibata’s music played and the crowd went nuts. Shibata took out Aussie Open, then hit Ospreay with a pump kick in the ring. Shibata hit the corner dropkick on Ospreay and went for a rear naked choke, but Aussie Open pulled Ospreay out of the ring.
Shibata and Cassidy had a stand off in the ring, and Cassidy gave Shibata the sunglasses and a thumbs up.
And the mystery opponent and newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club is… Claudio Castagnoli (fka Cesaro)!
Claudio Castagnoli defeated Zack Sabre, Jr. (18:28)
The crowd went absolutely nuts for Claudio for anyone worried that he wasn’t going to be a big enough surprise.
Castagnoli hit a forearm and the Neutralizer and almost got a three count in the opening 30 seconds of the match. Sabre dropped to the floor and Castagnoli hit him with a running forearm against the railing. JR put over Claudio like a million bucks on commentary. Sabre tried to work on Castagnoli’s arm after he ran it into the ring barricade. Castagnoli hit a long delayed vertical suplex. Sabre caught Claudio with a kneebar in the ropes and then against the leg apron.
Sabre alternated between going after the injured arm and the injured leg. Sabre snapped Castagnoli’s fingers. Sabre avoided a charge in the corner and twisted Castagnoli’s neck. Sabre wroked over the arm, but Castagnoli came back with a pair of back breakers and a charging European uppercut. Sabre took Claudio down with an armbar, then transitioned into a triangle choke. Claudio powered up and tried to send Sabre out to the floor, but both guys tumbled over the ropes and Sabre held onto the hold. So, Castagnoli picked him up again, walked Sabre up the stairs to the apron, and dumped him back into the ring.
That was awesome.
Castagnoli teased the Giant Swing, but Sabre countered into a guillotine. Castagnoli set up Sabre for a superplex, but Sabre countered into a submission. Castagnoli countered with a European forearm, then hit a super gutwrench suplex. Castagnoli went for the swing again, but Sabre got to the ropes. Castagnoli hit a forearm for a near fall. The crowd kept asking for the giant swing, and Claudio got it for five rotations before his arm gave out on him. Claudio went for the sharpshooter, but Sabre countered into a heel hook. Castagnoli countered back into a sharpshooter, but Sabre escaped. Castagnoli hit a double stomp for a near fall.
Sabre taunted Castagnoli into giving him an uppercut. Sabre caught Sabre with a choke, then tied up Castagnoli with a submission. Sabre hit a series of kicks for the near fall. Claudio hit the pop up uppercut, then an arm-trap powerbomb to get the pinfall. Another great match.
Jay White (w/ Gedo) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hangman Page and Adam Cole to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (21:02)
This match is one fall to a finish.
Okada got the largest ovation of the four in the match during the introductions. Then the bell rang and the crowd really went crazy, before anyone even did anything.
Cole tried to make a deal with White to work together against the babyfaces, but most of the early portion of the match was White paired off with Okada and Page paired off with Cole. White and Cole suplexed Page on the entrance ramp. Back in the ring, Cole hit a hangman’s neckbreaker on Okada.
Cole caught Page with a pump kick. Page came back with a fallaway slam on Cole, a plancha on White, and then a top rope lariat on Cole for a near fall. Page went for a moonsault, but Cole caught him with a superkick. This left Okada against Cole and White. Okada caught Cole with an elbow and White with a flapjack, then dropkicked Cole off the turnbuckles. The fight went to the floor and Okada tossed Cole and White over the barricade, then dove onto both men over the barricade.
Back in the ring, Okada locked Cole in the Money Clip. White broke that up and planted Okada on the mat with a Saito suplex. White went for a German suplex on Page, but Page flipped through and got a jackknife cover for two. Cole turned on White with a back stabber, then an ushigoroshi for a near fall.
White took Cole down with a chop, then caught him, Okada and Page with sleeper suplexes. Okada and Page exchanged boo/yay foremars with Cole and White. Page caught Okada with a boot, Cole with a clothesline and White with a sitout powerbomb for a near fall. Page then came off the top with a moonsault to the floor on Okada and Cole. Gedo tried to interfere. Page went for the Buckshot again, which White avoided. He went for the Bladerunner, but Page countered that into the Deadeye. Page then hit the Buckshot lariat, but Okada broke up the pin.
This left Okada and Page in the ring. Okada went for a tombstone, but Page escaped. Okada went for the Rainmaker, but Page avoided that and went for the Buckshot. Cole tripped up Page and Panama Sunrise on Okada. Okada countered with a neckbreaker and dropped a top rope elbow on Cole. Cole avoided the Rainmaker and got a pair of superkicks for a near fall. Okada came back with the dropkick, but again missed the Rainmaker.
Okada hit a landslide on Cole and went for another Rainmaker, but White ran in and hit Okada with the Blade Runner. White dumped Okada and then pinned Cole for the victory.
Cole appeared injured after the match and it might have messed up the finish. White said something to the referee right after the finish. Even JR on commentary noted how abrupt the ending was. The Young Bucks came out and had words with White as he left, but it seemed like they were mostly checking on Cole. Excalibur made a point during the replays to note that Adam Cole left under his own power.
Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the Interim AEW World Championship (18:16)
Tanahashi irritated Moxley with his air guitar antics early on, which gave Tanahashi an opening to work over Moxley’s legs. Tanahashi tied up Moxley with an Indian Deathlock. Moxley got a rope break then hit a cutter out of nowhere. Moxley hit a double underhook superplex, then dropped Tanahashi with a piledriver for a near fall. It seemed like there was some malfesance going on off camera that was distracting the crowd and the referee. (Apparently there was a fan acting up and getting escorted out according to Bryan Alvarez.) Moxley locked in a Texas Cloverleaf. Moxley transitioned into a crossfire and Tanahashi got a rope break.
Tanahashi came back with a slingblade and worked over Moxley with body shots. Tanahashi with a somersault senton for a near fall. Moxley ducked another slingblade attempt and clotheslined Tanahashi to the floor. On the floor, Moxley whipped Tanahashi into the ring barricade, then sent him through the table with a uranage. Tanahashi barely beat the ten-count.
Moxley countered a dragon screw leg whip into a cross-arm breaker. Tanahashi caught Moxley with a slingblade that sent Moxley to the floor. Moxley came up bleeding, and Tanahashi came off the top with the High Fly Flow to the floor.
Moxley went for a Paradigm Shift, but Tanahashi countered with a twist and shout. Moxley hit the Paradigm shift and cradled Tanahashi for a near fall. Tanahashi countered a second Paradigm shift, hit the kamigoye, then came off the top with a High Fly Flow. Tanahashi hit the High Fly Flow a second time and went for a cover, but Moxley rolled through into a bulldog choke.
Tanahashi fought out of the bulldog choke and countered a rear naked choke with a cradle for two. Moxley hit the King Kong lariat but only got a one count. Moxley hammered Tanahashi with elbows and the crowd started booing Moxley! Moxley locked in another choke with a body scissors and the crowd started to chant “Go Ace!” for Tanahashi. Moxley tried a bulldog choke but Tanahashi fought up. Moxley then hit the Death Rider (called the Death Rider by Excalibur) and Moxley got the pinfall and the AEW Interim Championship. Great brawl to end the show.
After the match, Moxley and Tanahashi had words and tried to shake hands, but Danny Garcia and Chris Jericho ran in and attacked. Eddie Kingston ran in after Jericho, and Yuta, Santana and Ortiz followed. Soon, the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society followed. Claudio ran in (he was the only one to get music) and went right after Jericho, taking him out with the pop up uppercut. Claudio got Matt Maynard in the Giant Swing giving him 20 revolutions (according to the commentators, anyway).
After the Jericho Appreciation Society was run off, Claudio and Kingston had harsh words for each other.
Final Thoughts:
Invariably, this show will probably get compared to the show fans think they should have gotten, or were supposed to get before injuries ravaged the card.
But this was a great show. AEW continues to deliver on pay-per-view. Folks were concerned with the build going into the show, and that was valid. But the surprise of Claudio delivered and most of the matches delivered. The show was 5 hours (with a loaded four match preshow) but it never seemed long.
This show absolutely delivered on the potential of AEW and New Japan working together.
After months of talk, it’s time for the main event: Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view in front of a sold-out United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Our Bryan Alvarez joined our Denise Salcedo earlier this week to preview the show which you can catch for free on YouTube.
Note this was recorded before both Tomohiro Ishii and Hiromu Takahashi were removed from the show due to injury and illness, respectively, and the Friday announcements for the new pre-show matches.
Here’s the current lineup:
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Malakai Black vs. PAC vs. Miro vs. Clark Connors
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships / ROH World Tag Team Championships: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)
IWGP US Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
Bullet Club (Young Bucks & El Phantasmo) vs. Dudes with Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin & Shingo Takagi)
Buy-In: Max Caster & Gunn Club (Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. LA Dojo (Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight & The DKC)
Buy-In: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Aaron Solo and QT Marshall
Buy-In: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado
Kenny Omega says he will not be appearing at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door and is not Zack Sabre Jr.’s mystery opponent on the show.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Omega stated that while he isn’t Bryan Danielson’s handpicked opponent for ZSJ, fans will not be disappointed with who is.
“I can safely say there is zero chance it will be me,” Omega said. “But the replacement is going to leave people very happy. I can’t see people being disappointed by this legitimately handpicked replacement by Bryan Danielson.”
Omega has not wrestled since dropping the AEW World Championship to Hangman Page at Full Gear last November. During his time away, he has been addressing a slew of accumulated injuries.
“So far, five procedures have taken place to attempt to make me a better, healthier athlete,” Omega continued. “These are injuries that have compiled over years. They’re ones I can’t neglect, and I’ve needed this time to start to heal. That’s what I’ve been doing during this time off—I’m trying to buy time back onto my wrestling clock. I would like to have a longer career, so I’ve looked at this time after losing the belt as an opportunity to start to fix what’s hurting me.”
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door takes place Sunday, June 26 from the United Center in Chicago and will air live on pay-per-view.
Editor’s Note: The following is an opinion-based preview and reflects that of the writer and not of our website.
When AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was first announced, the buzz was strong. I was excited, you were excited, we all were excited.
Now? I am…sort of excited, but more about the idea of it than the execution.
The next few paragraphs are mostly critical of the event (sorry!), but this event even happening to begin with is potentially monumental for pro wrestling over the next decade. A co-branded show from the second and third most popular companies in the entire sport is unheard of in modern wrestling. It opens up endless possibilities for more and for even bigger shows, but has been hampered by clunky booking, injuries, and ambiguous communication.
When the show goes live, the bell-to-bell action should be excellent, but a good quality product isn’t always enough.
To me, the biggest question is this: How much popularity do AEW and NJPW stand to gain from this? A lot of the popularity gains New Japan had over the last five-to-ten years have been dampened due to a combination of the pandemic and their cracking down on people GIF-ing/Streamable-ing parts of their matches.
Gone are the days when you could readily find the last eight minutes of a G1 Climax match on the web. Sure, New Japan wants those matches to be watched live or on-demand, but those clips and GIFs were free advertising spread by people who want the sport to grow. This event could go a long way toward rebuilding some of that fan base, but it sure seems like it will have a hard time attracting the more casual fan.
Much of what is already on the card has been overbooked at best and, at worst, it required a press release to explain. I’m grasping at straws to explain why a face-to-face between Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi, an actual god, seemed to serve as a vessel for Chris Jericho reintroducing Sammy Guevara to his faction and announcing a weird six-man tag match.
Surely, a match that has been talked about for three years can be sold by the two people in the actual match. A lot of these problems will get swept under the rug if the show is good, but there are certainly some cracks in the AEW foundation as of late – ones that need to be sealed up soon.
Let’s preview the Forbidden Door.
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
Every card needs an opening match. This will serve to further the issues the Blackpool Combat Club and Kingston have with Jericho and his pals. Suzuki will be captivating as always as he and Kingston having a cute lil’ face-off sure would be nice. And Guevara will also be here. Not much else to say!
Prediction: JAS & Suzuki
Inaugural AEW All-Atlantic title: PAC vs. Miro vs. Malakai Black vs. Clark Connors
The following titles exist, or will soon exist, in the ever convoluting AEW wrestling multiverse: AEW World Championship, Interim AEW World Championship, AEW Women’s World Championship, AEW World Tag Team Championship, AEW TNT Championship, AEW TBS Championship, AEW All-Atlantic Championship, ROH World Championship, ROH Pure Championship, ROH World Television Championship, ROH Women’s World Championship, ROH World Tag Team Championship, AAA World Tag Team Championship, and the FTW Championship.
This doesn’t even cover titles from New Japan, Rev Pro, or whatever other title someone totes out to the ring. Adding another to that list is just too much. Jamming this onto the card is especially strange. This very much seems like an AEW only thing and would have been the perfect way to draw eyeballs to the product over the summer. Everyone loves brackets!
I hope we get to see how The House of Black acts with a title as the way they are presented now, the competition part of pro wrestling seems to matter less than spooky tales about vengeance and violence. It’s either Black or Miro, but I think Miro is bigger than this belt.
Prediction: Malakai Black
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
If this is CSRO stretching and getting stretched by ZSJ, sign me the heck up. If this is like, Jonathan Gresham or someone else, tuck me the heck in bed.
Prediction: TBD
The Young Bucks, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo vs. Sting, Darby Allin, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi
I am far too rapidly approaching my 37th year on this big blue marble and there are embarrassingly few things I enjoy more than going to bed at a reasonable hour. I am once again pleading with Tony Khan to stop filling his cards with so many matches to help me achieve that goal.
I was ready to end the preview here, but then Shingo and my precious Hiromu got added to it. Does it make sense? Nope! Does this contradict everything I wrote in the intro? Yes! Nevertheless, I am immediately 100 times more interested now. Shingo still does the high speed Dragon Gate-style as well as anyone and Hiromu might have the most uniquely captivating energy in all of wrestling.
Prediction: Dudes With Attitudes
IWGP U.S. Champion Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy
Denying the pure breathtaking talent of Ospreay is crazy. He is not wrestling Twitter’s favorite wrestler, nor is he mine, but he has all the athletic gifts a wrestler could ever want. One of my first memories of him is hearing a promo where he said, ‘I heard you like to shoot ospreys from the sky’ and I realized that he was just another hyper-athletic theater kid which is not an insult!
He’s who can take your breath away while at the same time making your eyes roll out of your head and out the door and also part of one of the best cinematographic moments in wrestling. Will has found himself since he’s really leaned into being a heel, which has allowed him to cut out a lot of the empty calories (choreographed flippy stuff) from his matches. That said, I’m not sure he can resist hamming it up for an American PPV audience.
Between the overwhelming love for Cassidy, a general loathing for Ospreay, and the abilities of the two wrestlers, this match should have an insane amount of heat. A fired-up OC getting a near fall is going to blow the roof off the United Center. The match could either steal the show or be a spectacle of self-indulgence. Either way, it has my attention. As much as the crowd might want it – and trust me they will be frothing for it – there is no way Ospreay is dropping a belt he just won.
Prediction: Billy Boy
AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm
This is a match with almost zero heat that I am worried will get buried in a bad spot and get lost in the rest of the card. Thunder Rosa continues to, somewhat confusingly, have a real (extended fart noise) title reign and that was before the disaster of a match with Marina Shafir a few weeks back.
So much so, that it’s worth wondering if AEW is losing confidence in their relatively new Women’s champion. That combined with Storm being very, very good at this whole pro wrestling thing has me sniffing around a title change.
Prediction: Toni Storm
Winners Take All: ROH Tag Team Champions FTR vs. IWGP Tag Team Champions Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb vs. Roppongi Vice
Usually, these multi-man matches exist so that champion can lose their titles without taking the pin. But since two titles are on the line and the winners take them all, that changes things. Look, Roppongi Vice are nice and fun and but they are clearly here to eat a pin to set up a regular tag team match between the new champs and whoever loses their belts.
FTR has called themselves the best team on the planet and it’s never been more true than it is now. They’ve been on an absolute heater since Supercard of Honor and Dax Harwood himself has been doing his best Arn Anderson impression by putting on incredible TV matches with Will Ospreay, Adam Cole, and even his own partner just in the last two months. Figuring out how to keep everyone in two companies looking relatively strong is giving me a popsicle headache, but for this card to work, titles need to move between companies and this is the best spot for that to happen.
The best things going today have never been better, and they leave Chicago with one more set of titles.
Prediction: FTR
IWGP Champion Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
Earlier, I wrote that if Forbidden Door winds up being filled with high-quality matches, a lot of the bad lead-up will be forgiven. This might be a perfect example of that. The yes-no-yes-no-YES of this match had my head spinning, but when that coin dropped and Okada walked out, I was healed. The weirdest great wrestler of the last ten years can wash away any and all types of pain.
As I was writing this, I had a recurring thought that I can not shake: would Jay White be the best performer in AEW? Not to be hot takey, but I think he could be. He has carried this program on the back of great mic work and incredible presence. He feels like a champion, he speaks like a champion, and carries himself like one. There’s a lot of talk about WWE throwing the bag at MJF and rightfully so, but White is someone who can carry an entire company and there’s no amount of money I wouldn’t give him.
He just won the title from Okada so him losing it here would be a huge shock. Nothing would create buzz like someone from AEW walking out of Chicago with the biggest prize from New Japan, but I can’t see it happening. One of the Adams is eating the pin.
Prediction: Jay White
Interim AEW World title: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
In life and in the universe of pro wrestling, there can only be one ace. Lots of people call themselves that, but it is truly a 1/1 position. There can be many constellations of stars, but there is only one Polaris. Only one star shines brighter than all the others. That star is Hiroshi Tanahashi.
No one connects like him, no one structures a match like him, and no one makes the audience feel like him. AEW called him the Bret Hart of New Japan and, with full apologies to Bret, he is nowhere near as beautiful as Tanahashi. He was the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at the first Wrestle Kingdom back in 2007. Fifteen years later, he is main eventing a massive cross-promotional show and he’s still in the top two of all wrestlers when it comes to telling a story in the ring. And cats and kittens, he’s not number two.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Moxley’s frantic, brawling style plays against Tanahashi’s more methodical, less is more approach. Moxley’s style works well regardless of his alignment and that will allow Tanahashi to work as the pure babyface that he is. Tanahashi winning would be shocking and beyond exciting, but I just can’t see a world where the match ends with anything other than Moxley with his hand raised.
A stipulation has been added to the Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki match at Forbidden Door.
It was revealed on AEW Rampage on Friday that the winning team will gain the man-advantage for their side in the Blood & Guts match on Dynamite.
Blood & Guts will follow similar rules to a traditional War Games match with two wrestlers starting and then further participants entering at staggered intervals. This year’s match will also see six wrestlers on each team.
The Jericho Appreciation Society team will consist of Jericho, Guevara, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker and Matt Menard. They will face the team of Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, and the mystery wrestler that Bryan Danielson has selected to face Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door.
Danielson has been out of action since the Anarchy In The Arena match at Double or Nothing with an undisclosed injury. There’s no timetable for his return.
The Blood & Guts edition of Dynamite is set for AEW’s debut in Detroit, Michigan. As of now, no other matches have been announced.
Ahead of his opportunity to win the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic title at Sunday’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view, I talked to Malakai Black about the event, future NJPW goals, and the match itself.
You can watch the full interview on YouTube above.
His initial reaction to the Forbidden Door announcement
“My goal in professional wrestling was always Japan, and preferably New Japan. When I grew up, I never watched WWF/WWE at the time because we didn’t have access to it. I grew up watching New Japan because we had a channel called EuroSport and it had NJPW. That was my introduction to wrestling as a whole and what I grew up with. Later on, it was WCW. So New Japan always had a special place in my heart and it’s also how my style somewhat got orientated. It’s much more martial arts influenced so I started doing martial arts because of what I saw.
“Right before I moved (to the US), there were talks between a company that I worked for that had a good working relationship with New Japan at the time and myself as to bringing me over for a tour or multiple tours. That was obviously the big question for New Japan and I had the contract for NXT on my table. I was like, well, even though New Japan is the goal at the time, NXT at the time would have been a three-to-five year contract and guaranteed money whereas (with) NJPW, they run multiple tours but we don’t know (if) they might have kept me for [more than] one tour. So, I went with the route we all know.
“I always felt that in the back of my mind that I still wanted to do New Japan in any capacity. I worked with them when they did the European tours back then, but not on a scale like we’re about to do on Sunday where it’s an actual collaborative event between two companies.
“So when Tony (Khan) made this announcement, I was hoping that I was gonna be involved. The rumor mill backstage kinda started coming up because we saw some of the New Japan officials walking around and we saw some of the wrestlers walking around, so we all knew something was brewing and when it was finally there. It’s just cool. We live in such a unique era when it comes to wrestling. There is so much going on and everything has its place which I think is really really cool. It’s very exciting.”
“For me, it’s always been Tanahashi.”
Black said that due to his NJPW fandom growing up, one of his current goals after Forbidden Door is to wrestle for the promotion on their turf in Japan.
Known for incorporating his kickboxing skills into his wrestling, I asked him who are some of the NJPW talents that he feels he can make some in-ring magic with.
“For me, it’s always been (Hiroshi) Tanahashi. I think he and I would mesh so well. I am purely basing that off what he presents as a competitor, how he flows, his footwork, his pacing, his timing and I understand that a lot and it’s a bit of a vague explanation but the way he wrestles is something that really connects with me. In a different setting, Shibata would be incredible, I would have really loved the opportunity to kind of tangle with Ishii this Sunday, but it is what it is and unfortunately, he got injured. These things happen. In a singles setting or a Japanese setting, absolutely those three would be at the top of the bill.
“But then, also a guy like Zack Sabre Jr. He and I have such a tremendous history and it’s been so long since him and I have tangled.”
All-Atlantic Championship match changes
Black talked about Clark Connors replacing Ishii due to injury in Sunday’s four-way title match.
“He’s a true representative of New Japan. He has big shoes to fill, because he’s filling for Ishii, which is no small feat. At the same time, it can be because of what New Japan carries and the grueling regiments that New Japan puts their students through and how they teach these younger kids to become wrestlers, you can’t take that out of the equation too.
“So, this man is a walking weapon. Yes, he’s gonna come in there with the least amount of experience, the least amount of name value, but also it means he has nothing to lose. In a certain way, he’s one of the most hungry because now he’s getting an opportunity. Out of the four of us, he’s the least known, but also the least known to all of us. He has that level of being unpredictable, so he’s definitely not someone to be counted out. He has big shoes to fill but also out of everyone most of the pressure is on him. Guys like myself, Miro and PAC, we’ve been in positions like this before, I would even say that I thrive in positions like this. I am best when I am under pressure.”
Two new Buy-In matches have been added to Sunday’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view event.
On tonight’s Rampage, it was confirmed that Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland will face Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado. Additionally, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI will face the team of Aaron Solo and QT Marshall of The Factory. This is in addition to an eight-man tag team match, where The Gunn Club and Max Caster will take on Alex Coughlin, The DKC, Kevin Knight, and Yuya Uemura.
Rampage tonight had Swerve and Lee talk about their recent issues, with Swerve saying they haven’t seen eye-to-eye as of late, but they have been getting wins. Lee was still concerned that they were not on the same page.
Here is the lineup so far for Sunday’s Forbidden Door event:
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, Sunday, June 26 —
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Malakai Black vs. PAC vs. Miro vs. Clark Connors
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships / ROH World Tag Team Championships: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)
IWGP US Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
Bullet Club (Young Bucks, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. Dudes with Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi)
Buy-In: Max Caster & Gunn Club (Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. LA Dojo (Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight & The DKC)
Buy-In: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Aaron Solo and QT Marshall
Buy-In: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado
During his Friday media call to promote Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, Tony Khan provided an update on Jeff Hardy and discussed the company’s wellness policy.
Khan said that Hardy is in treatment, but couldn’t say much more other than that he has stayed in contact with Matt Hardy and that AEW will continue to support Jeff as he goes through the treatment process.
He was asked if AEW has a wellness policy and the differences between Hardy’s DWI arrest and Jon Moxley who entered rehab last year for alcohol abuse.
Khan said they do have a wellness policy, but didn’t go into details about it. He said it’s available to talent of any stature and he hopes people that need it come to them before there are incidents. He said there is testing in place and the expectation is that people come to work ready to do just that. He said doing any type of post-event alcohol testing wouldn’t make sense and that the majority of the roster are responsible with alcohol.
He came back to the question later and bristled at the notion the Hardy and Moxley situations are similar. He said that Moxley never put anyone in danger and that the two situations were “apples and oranges” and didn’t like to hear them compared.
Here’s some of the other notable news from the call, the full audio of which is available below:
Based on the success of ticket sales and buzz, he is already thinking about Forbidden Door II.
He went into long detail at the onset about the difficulties with injuries and availability with making Sunday’s show happen. He said CM Punk and FTR would have been together on the show had Punk not got hurt. They knew Okada would be available to them this week and that Jay White would be available two weeks before.
He wished all four men in the IWGP Title match could have had more TV time leading up to Sunday, but he dealt with it as best he could.
He decided to shelf Bryan Danielson for Forbidden Door and Blood & Guts as he didn’t want to risk Danielson being out longer with injury. He strongly put over Danielson’s replacement Sunday and thinks it will be a special moment.
He said Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy had been the plan for quite some time.
More Buy-In matches for the PPV will be announced tonight on Rampage.
He acknowledged the politics involved in not having Rey Fenix and Andrade on Sunday’s show, but put over their match on Rampage and a “wild ending” to tonight’s show.
Sunday isn’t a precursor to more AEW PPVs. Khan acknowledged more PPVs would increase revenue, but there’s no imminent increase coming.
He is open to AEW wrestlers carrying NJPW titles and vice versa.
PPV buys are right around the same number they usually are 72 hours out, but the big movement is in the next 48 hours.
In one of the strangest playing out of a story in pro wrestling, Stephanie McMahon is not only back with WWE weeks after leaving and then being buried and is now both the interim CEO and interim Chairwoman of the Board.
The move was made on 6/17, days after the Wall Street Journal story broke regarding her father and John Laurinaitis having affairs with Laurinaitis’ 41-year-old assistant and the story going into detail on a $3 million payoff in exchange for an NDA with the woman, to be paid out over a five-year period. The story also noted that there were other payoffs made to women over the years by Vince McMahon that totaled millions of dollars.
Vince McMahon announced that during the investigation against him that he was stepping down as CEO and Chairman of the Board, but would remain as the head of creative. At both Smackdown and Raw, where ratings have shot up huge coming off the publicity, particularly with younger viewers, backstage, with Vince McMahon in charge, it was largely business as usual.
Tomohiro Ishii has been pulled from Sunday’s AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door card after suffering a knee injury.
NJPW announced today that Ishii suffered a left knee injury and is not medically cleared to wrestle on the June 26 pay-per-view. Ishii had been scheduled to take part in the AEW All-Atlantic Championship match, also featuring PAC, Miro, and Malakai Black. Ishii will be replaced by Clark Connors in the match.
Ishii had defeated Connors in a tournament final match on Tuesday at the New Japan Road event in Tokyo to determine NJPW’s representative in the All-Atlantic title bout.
When oppurtunity knocks, you answer that door. Wishing Ishii a speedy recovery. See you Sunday, Chicago. LET'S GET WILD!!
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Malakai Black vs. PAC vs. Miro vs. Clark Connors
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships / ROH World Tag Team Championships: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)
IWGP US Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
Bullet Club (Young Bucks, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. Dudes with Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi)
Buy-In: Max Caster & Gunn Club (Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. LA Dojo (Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight & The DKC)
Four new matches for AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door were announced during this week’s AEW Dynamite episode.
In an eight-man tag team match, The Young Bucks will team with NJPW’s Bullet Club duo El Phantasmo and Hikuleo against Dudes with Attitudes — a foursome comprised of Sting, Darby Allin, and Los Ingobernables de Japon’s Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi.
In a bout set for the Buy-In pre-show, Max Caster, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn will take on Alex Coughlin, Yuya Uemura, Kevin Knight, and The DKC from NJPW’s LA Dojo.
As we previously covered, the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line in a four-way, with Jay White defending against Kazuchika Okada, Hangman Page, and Adam Cole.
Also announced, Zack Sabre Jr. will face a mystery opponent, announced on Dynamite as the newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club by Bryan Danielson.
Sunday’s lineup:
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, Sunday, June 26 —
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Malakai Black vs. PAC vs. Miro vs. Tomohiro Ishii
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships / ROH World Tag Team Championships: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) (c) vs. FTR (Dax HArwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero)
IWGP US Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TBA
Bullet Club (Young Bucks, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. Dudes with Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi)
Buy-In: Max Caster & Gunn Club (Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. LA Dojo (Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight & The DKC)
