Tag: Forbidden Door

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.