AEW x NJPW - FORBIDDEN DOOR - 6/26/2022

[Kang]

Looks like Cole is injured.

Probably expect few more NJPW talent going over AEW Talent when WK happens next year.

[Craig H]

Small request - can we please not flood this thread with pictures, tweets, and other space taking shit until well later and let people get in their comments about the show first?

[The Natural]

Just now, Craig H said:

Aside from the 4 way for the IWGP title, this was my PPV of the year. Holy shit I had a blast watching it.

Mine as well. Revolution had three better matches (Punk/MJF *****, Moxley/Danielson and Kingston/Jericho) but this was a better top to bottom show. Much better paced than Double or Nothing.

[John E. Dynamite]

I mean there was a lot of doomsaying but anybody who's been watching these products for awhile coulda told you this was gonna be a worthwhile card. "The build was iffy and I don't know the NJPW guys!" Hey, look, I get it. But this is how you get to know them.

Despy/Kanemaru vs. Swerve 'n Lee ruled, I think people forget that the Suzuki-Gun Junior Top Team have been the high point of the IWGP Junior Tag Title scene for half a decade. Opener was gorgeous. Wanted Toni to win but I get it. Will and OC were always going to tear the joint down and I begrudgingly accept Will's slowed-down heel shtick. Cole should not have been in the ring but at least we've got a big Rainmaker IOU to cash in. Claudio, yeah, perfect, it's gonna lead to him ' Eddie in a cage again, Zack is just so my dude and I love his big, shit talking, whiny heart. Wasn't sure about the main but it's like every time Mox blades the sun comes up. Rises, if you will.

Edited June 27, 2022 by John E. Dynamite

[The Natural]

Best tag team in the world since 2016. Hope #FTR beats the Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship holding them all.

Edited June 27, 2022 by The Natural

[Valcourt]

Anyone know if Claudio/Kingston REALLY have heat? Or is that just silly?

Well, aside from the weird Switchbalde win, that was the best show in a long long time.

Mox bleeds because.... why not?

Shibata poses with Orange.

Taz was pretty damn golden the entire night.

JR complains when the story line for the US Title is being explained.

SQUARE RING POSTS!

Claudio!

What a top to bottom amazing card.

Pre show was really good at well.

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Valcourt
More thoughts

[Curt McGirt]

I enjoyed that WAY more than I thought I would. Had troubles with my feed until the proverbial Mysterious Benefactor hooked me up (thank you good sir). So, missed the pre-show and most of the opener which I'll alleviate later. 

- Out of all four multi-man matches the crystal ball read "there will be four Everybody Lays Around Spots" and lo and behold, there were FOUR EVERYBODY LAYS AROUND SPOTS! She never lies. 

- Miro deserves any title but if that meant him not being on my TV every week then let him be misted. 

- Women's title match wasn't as good as Rosa/Deeb but was perfectly fine. The Sting match ended up being a comedy match but that's okay too; he's still crazy enough to take a dive. Ospreay/Cassidy was an elongated version of their section of that ridiculous tag on Dynamite; I liked the bite-size version better. 

- Cesaro errrr Claudio is still the best. 

- Sucks about Cole (honestly) because that match had a real nice layout and performance. 

- Tanahashi is cooked. He looked it on Dynamite and he looked it here. Trying to match the power of Moxley's strikes and especially those pathetic body blows was not the proper path to take. Also, no need for blood in the match. Overall though it too was fine and crowd enjoyed the shit out of it. They seemed over the Pier 6 until Claudio came out again. Eddie still hating him was perfect -- yelling at Moxley who was all "What the fuck did I do?" and then just standing there shaking his head, hands on hips at the end. "What are you gonna do next, get Hero hired?!"

You have to think they ship over Tana and Okada again because they were OVER. Also, somebody needs to alert JR that Hiroshi Hase is not a "class act". 

[John E. Dynamite]

3 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Small request - can we please not flood this thread with pictures, tweets, and other space taking shit until well later and let people get in their comments about the show first?

There's this little thing in yr profile where it tells you that you "Won the Day" with the most likes and image/tweet spamming is the only viable strategy. We are slaves to others playing this strange game's meta.

And since this is now my negativity post, Shingo looked heavy and the only guy who didn't maximize his screen time was El Phantasmo. But I forgot to mention the glory of PAC surviving Game Over so I'll close with that.

[Lawful Metal]

Fabulous.

[GodzillaPerez]

That was tremendous. The IWGP title match was the only match that was just ok and everything else was great. Definitely a show of the year candidate.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

This show over delivered. Crow was hot for everything. The replacement wasn't a letdown. Good show.

Not totally 100% sure of this, but how I read the finish for The IWGP Title Match was when Okada hit that high angle Michinoku Driver it fucked up Cole's shoulder / neck / stinger / or maybe his labrum finally let go. So he was so in his head worried about being hurt, he accidentally ducked the Rainmaker he was supposed to take. Because why would they not have Okada hit one? Especially when it can be broken up. Or in this case still win the match, just for Jay White. So Cole realizes he didn't actually take anything and contemplates kicking out but it was too weak / they just went with him being pinned.

Just my read on it. Could be wrong. But the most plausible scenario. Was supposed to be pinned there, but was supposed to have taken The Rainmaiker he ducked on because he was hurt.

[elizium]

Card of the year. Every match worked for me, including ones that I had no interest in at all.

Not much else to add besides my main takeaway being that Malakai Black is going noticeably bald and I look forward to him become even more EVIL~! with a stringy skullet

[Niners Fan in CT]

2 minutes ago, GodzillaPerez said:

That was tremendous. The IWGP title match was the only match that was just ok and everything else was great. Definitely a show of the year candidate.

Cole was probably really messed up so... gets a pass from me.  Layout was GOOD but then that happened.  Shrug. 

[Curt McGirt]

Waitaminute there were five multi mans, not four. And there was definitely lay-down bits in four and that includes one in the opener which I saw enough of before it shat out on me. So was there one in the tag title match for a full FIVE Everybody Lays Downs? I can't remember.

 

[eikerir]

5 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

This show over delivered. Crow was hot for everything. The replacement wasn't a letdown. Good show.

Not totally 100% sure of this, but how I read the finish for The IWGP Title Match was when Okada hit that high angle Michinoku Driver it fucked up Cole's shoulder / neck / stinger / or maybe his labrum finally let go. So he was so in his head worried about being hurt, he accidentally ducked the Rainmaker he was supposed to take. Because why would they not have Okada hit one? Especially when it can be broken up. Or in this case still win the match, just for Jay White. So Cole realizes he didn't actually take anything and contemplates kicking out but it was too weak / they just went with him being pinned.

Just my read on it. Could be wrong. But the most plausible scenario. Was supposed to be pinned there, but was supposed to have taken The Rainmaiker he ducked on because he was hurt.

Yeah it felt like that Rainmaker should have definitely been hit there.

I was worried because I thought Okada was knocked loopy by the Cole super kicks, he looked out of it for a minute and even commentary mentioned it. But then Cole got fucked up either by an Okada dropkick or driver and since it was so quick they couldn’t improvise anything else and just went  with the original plan.

Best decision they could have made was Jay pinning Okada after the Blade Runner but it all happened so fast that I don’t blame them. There’s only so much you can decide in those last 10 seconds.

Edited June 27, 2022 by eikerir

[Phantom Lord]

It appeared this show was cursed with  the guys getting injured before it. But despite that this show way over delivered. I don't think there was one bad match on the show. Even the preshow had some damn good matches.

There's too much to go over right now. I'll just say it was an amazing show from all involved.

[TimLivingston]

NJPW guys showed up. This show was insane and haphazardly booked but also worked and somehow showed a template for how these cards could be optimized. Even the commentary was great given it was a 4-man booth. Hell, we even got an actual DEAN~! review out of it. A great night in the history of our sport. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

As someone who doesn't really give a shit about modern NJPW, I thought this show was awesome, and better than the last two AEW ppvs. My favourite match was definitely Claudio and ZSJ, right up my alley that one, followed by the opener. But I had fun with just about everything. Did the women's title match seem weird to anyone else though? It kinda seemed like Rosa was booked to just eat Toni up, which I didn't really get.

Oh, and as someone who's going to Blood and Guts on Wednesday, I'm absolutely over the moon at Claudio coming in. Can't wait.

[Black Angel]

Money well spent.

[Teflon Turtle]

12 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Also, somebody needs to alert JR that Hiroshi Hase is not a "class act". 

I got a little curious...couldn't decide whether JR was being sarcastic as a way to tell Excalibur "don't bring that guy up again" or if he genuinely doesn't know. Probably the latter, I hoped for the former.

That crowd was ridiculously hot all night. I really hope NJPW was paying attention to who got those pops, and selfishly, what area of the United States they got them in. I couldn't make this show, but want to get to one in the future. I'm convinced that if NJPW ran the opening night of the G1 in Chicago like they did in Dallas a few years back, they would do pretty good business. Beyond that, one thinks that Chicago has to be the first city considered for future crossover events given how everything went over. I'm jealous of everybody that got to be in that atmosphere, and I will typically only tolerate large groups of people for live music.

Earlier today, I wondered if they would've had Shibata run back his match with ZSJ as the "mystery opponent." That didn't make sense with Blood and Guts looming, unless they would just have him destroy everyone on the opposing side and have him be an "honorary member" of BCC. I like what we got better. Didn't expect that, but was very pleased to see it.

Speaking of ZSJ - that guy is having a killer year. I understand why the NJPW side of that match needed to drop the fall, but I really hope he has some rewards coming his way. I dunno what there is to say about Claudio that hasn't already been said a billion times over the years. Those two are as good as pro wrestlers get. 

Might have more to say later - I missed a few matches and want to re-watch this. 

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

Damn, what a show! 

I know I am pretty much the exact target audience for this show, being an AEW mark, living in Japan, who also loves New Japan...

but honestly for me this damned near hit that WM17/Super J Cup '94/One Night Stand/Canadian Stampede all-timer elite tier of pro wrestling shows. Wildly exceeded my very high expectations. I was marking out and fully engaged for almost five hours. 

That crowd! They really made this show. Non-stop energy.

The buy in would have been a great episode of Rampage!

Although, the opener was kind of an ideal Elevation main event. QT Special popped me big time.

I'm glad Archer got on the show, and I am always happy to see Comoroto. And to watch BMMSM.

Keith Lee as The World's Biggest Ricky Morton was straight up amazing.

Why is Swerve obsessed with Jim Neidhardt's house?

Making jokes about Shibata's balls? That's low hanging fruit

All time great Kaze ni nare! 

How awesome must it feel for guys who have been fighting in front of quiet Japanese Covid crowds to get reactions like this?

It just does not get better than Kingston vs MiSu.

Umino looked great, too.

I think that was one of the best three-way tag title matches of all time. Cash's injury added a dose of Canadian Stampede to the whole thing, which was fitting. 

All time great hot tag. All time great near-fall.

I like when Jay's accent makes him sound like Korg.

Conners hits The Forbidden Gore on Miro, through the table!

Sting teaming with Shingo in 2022 is just insane. Bucks and Phantasmo heeling it up was too much fun.

If Rosa is going to keep wrestling more like Dustin, then I am fine with her holding on to the belt.

I was worried when JR came out to call Orange vs Ospreay... but he was just fine! Fruit vs bird is a natural match-up.

The Shibata moment was so good.

Claudio was great. Zack countering the giant swing was such a heel move!

ZSJ can't use the European uppercut any more because of Brexit.

BCC is so good now. And there is beef with Kingston simmering there. Oh boy!

Shame about the ending to the IWGP title match. Hope Cole is OK. 

Commentary team handled that well.

Mox busted open! Forbidden blood and Gore! 

Surprised so many in the crowd were behind Tana! 

I am down with Mox and Bux being two-time champs. And with PAC having a title. He is legitimately from The Atlantic, too! And FTR as IWGP and ROH tag champs! 

Such a great show.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Gordlow

[elizium]

Oh yeah, actual best part of the night was JR getting annoyed with Kevin Kelly's long explanation of the Ospreay-Juice situation and cutting him off with a "Why don't we talk about the wrestling we're about to see"

[SirFozzie]

Ok, callin my shot now. Claudio says "Fuck no I ain't taggin with Kingston in Blood and Guts", and Shooter Umino is the surprise fifth man.

[Teflon Turtle]

3 minutes ago, Gordlow said:

 

How awesome must it feel for guys who have been fighting in front of quiet Japanese Covid crowds to get reactions like this?

I forgot to write about this, and you mentioned it. I don't know how much more time Minoru Suzuki has left in his career, but he is a personal favorite. Whenever he has come over to the U.S. and gotten a big "Kaze Ni Nare" response from American crowds after mandatory years of silence over in Japan, it's a feel good moment and...I'm sure this is corny as hell...I bet he appreciates it even though it would be terribly out of character. That was probably the biggest chant he's heard in a long time, now. 

[EVA]

This show ruled. Never a doubt.