FORBIDDEN DOOR IV - 8/24/2025

[SovietShooter]

One of the upsides of how AEW rotates talent (as well as how injures take guys off tv for awhile), is that as AEW are probably about to lose Ospreay & Swerve for an extended period, but they're going to be getting Eddie & Jack Perry back soon. They just got Cope back.  Garcia has been cooled down, and looks like he is going to be heated back up. Takeshita has been away at the G1.  Okada has been eerily off TV, as has Kenny. Who knows when Pac is set to come back. And, maybe he isn't coming back, but Jericho could show back up. 

 

AEW has a ridiculously deep roster. 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

12 hours ago, dorfus malorfus said:

I've been expecting Tony to try to poach Bozilla from Rossy since Marigold first started so I guess this is the first domino falling 

Bozilla is in Stardom though, isn't she? Is this just sour grapes because Japanese companies aren't paying what TK can so wrestlers want to work in AEW?

[SovietShooter]

The heat between Rossy and TK (allegedly) stems from Rossy, a NJPW employee, (allegedly) working under the table with WWE to funnel talent (allegedly Giulia) to WWE while NJPW has a working relationship with AEW. 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

1 hour ago, SovietShooter said:

The heat between Rossy and TK (allegedly) stems from Rossy, a NJPW employee, (allegedly) working under the table with WWE to funnel talent (allegedly Giulia) to WWE while NJPW has a working relationship with AEW. 

I know. I was just wondering why bringing in a Stardom wrestler would be poaching Marigold.  A lot of puro fans seem to blame TK for Japanese (and non-Japanese workers who compete in Japan) workers coming to AEW when this is a business and wrestlers should look out for themselves. It's an attitude i see a lot from certain posters. 

[Casey]

10 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

Bozilla is in Stardom though, isn't she? Is this just sour grapes because Japanese companies aren't paying what TK can so wrestlers want to work in AEW?

Bozilla left Marigold to join Stardom.

[dorfus malorfus]

I didn't realize she'd gone to Stardom whoops 

Edit: although re-reading my op, my original point still stands regardless of who she's employed by these days 

Edited August 24 by dorfus malorfus

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Ah, so TK orchestrated her jumping to Stardom to mess with Rossy. Got it. 

It's wrestling.  Wrestlers should be looking pit for themselves and making money.  I'm not going to begrudge them that and start blaming the promotion for it. 

[Casey]

The lights out cage match is exactly what I expected: it’s Dog Pound NJPW style, but with AEW’s cage.

[The Natural]

On 8/9/2025 at 7:24 PM, SturmCRF said:

I'm going to this, and it's a good card, but a shit Forbidden Door card so far. I know the G1 gives them no time to build, but I want my weirdo crossover matches. Hobbs vs Oiwa, Tsuji vs Shane Taylor, Darby vs Narita, Starlight Kid vs Queen Aminata... Fuck storylines, I want unique, mad bullshit that WWE can't do.

 

On 8/9/2025 at 8:15 PM, The Natural said:

I was wondering whether you were or not. Enjoy, mate. Road Report please. Hope you, your missus and kid are well.

 

On 8/10/2025 at 9:15 AM, SturmCRF said:

We're not too bad thanks! Can't promise anything too elaborate, but will try and cobble some thoughts together.

Enjoy, pal! Love to y'all!

Edited August 24 by The Natural

[The Natural]

PPV Predictions:

FOR THE MEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. MJF.

FOR THE WOMEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Timeless Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena.

FOR THE IWGP CHAMPIONSHIP - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness.

FOR THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland.

FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE TBS CHAMPIONSHIP - Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor vs. Persephone vs. Bozilla.

FOR THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP - Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.

THREE WAY ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. FTR vs. Brodido.

LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH - Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Darby Allin/Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/Gabe Kidd.

Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy.

Edited August 24 by The Natural

[tbarrie]

Have they announced any matches for the pre-show? AEW's website says there'll be free matches but I couldn't find any details.

[The Natural]

11 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

Have they announced any matches for the pre-show? AEW's website says there'll be free matches but I couldn't find any details.

Here you go:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/trios-title-match-among-new-additions-to-aew-forbidden-door-zero-hour/

[Niners Fan in CT]

I don't care if the show is nine hours.  Inject it.  It's on in the afternoon here,  I'm ready for it. 

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Here you go:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/trios-title-match-among-new-additions-to-aew-forbidden-door-zero-hour/

Thanks! I figured Opps vs War Dogs was coming after Dynamite. Couldn't have guessed the other ones.

[SovietShooter]

 FOR THE MEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. MJF.

FOR THE WOMEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Timeless Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena.

FOR THE IWGP CHAMPIONSHIP - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness.

FOR THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland.

FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE TBS CHAMPIONSHIP - Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor vs. Persephone vs. Bozilla.

FOR THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP - Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.

THREE WAY ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. FTR vs. Brodido.

LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH - Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Darby Allin/Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/Gabe Kidd.

Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy. 

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I don't care if the show is nine hours.  Inject it.  It's on in the afternoon here,  I'm ready for it. 

Zero Hour: 16:30.

PPV: 18:00.

So fucking good to get it at this time than the usual 23:30 Zero Hour and 01:00 main card. Won't have any of my American family here bitching about Forbidden Food's start time. I'm keeping that autocorrect in.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

Thanks! I figured Opps vs War Dogs was coming after Dynamite. Couldn't have guessed the other ones.

You're welcome.

[The Natural]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

PPV Predictions:

FOR THE MEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. MJF.

FOR THE WOMEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Timeless Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena.

FOR THE IWGP CHAMPIONSHIP - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness.

FOR THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland.

FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE TBS CHAMPIONSHIP - Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor vs. Persephone vs. Bozilla.

FOR THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP - Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.

THREE WAY ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. FTR vs. Brodido.

LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH - Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Darby Allin/Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/Gabe Kidd.

Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy.

 

1 hour ago, SovietShooter said:

 FOR THE MEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. MJF.

FOR THE WOMEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Timeless Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena.

FOR THE IWGP CHAMPIONSHIP - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness.

FOR THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland.

FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE TBS CHAMPIONSHIP - Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor vs. Persephone vs. Bozilla.

FOR THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP - Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.

THREE WAY ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. FTR vs. Brodido.

LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH - Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Darby Allin/Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/Gabe Kidd.

Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy. 

Storm/Athena and Lights Out Steel Cage I went back and forth on. I think the former is the most likely title change of the night and the latter to send the crowd home happy. I don't think Mercedes Mone drops the TBS Championship so close to Jade Cargill's record long reign.

[HarryArchieGus]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

PPV Predictions:

FOR THE MEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. MJF.

FOR THE WOMEN'S AEW CHAMPIONSHIP - Timeless Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena.

FOR THE IWGP CHAMPIONSHIP - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness.

FOR THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP - Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland.

FOUR WAY MATCH FOR THE TBS CHAMPIONSHIP - Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor vs. Persephone vs. Bozilla.

FOR THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP - Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi.

THREE WAY ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. FTR vs. Brodido.

LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH - Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi/Hiroshi Tanahashi/Darby Allin/Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/Gabe Kidd.

Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy.

My predicitions are the exact same. I do like the idea of Athena winning and establishing herself as a top star, but not sure it's happening. Maybe I'm just hoping for the Page victory as there will surely be all kinds of stupid shenanigans with the magical 'contract'. I just got a flashback to that horrible MJF-Jay White PPV main event. Reel Friedman's bad ideas in before the show please. Most looking forward to the 'Elimination Rules' (YES! Thank you!) Tag Title match and ZSJ-Nigel. Hoping Athena-Toni is a showstealer. Stoked!

[Niners Fan in CT]

This was a good show but AEW has set the bar so high this year for PPVs that I still feel like it could have been even better.  

-Cope & Christian match was a solid match it was more about the reactions. They are going to be so over in Toronto. 

-Fletcher/Hiromu was really solid, good start for Fletcher's reign 

-Women's fatal 4 way was really damn good with lots of creative spots and it was cool to see Mercedes in there with powerhouses. Bozilla looks like she will be a star. 

-ZSJ/Nigel was really good stuff,  expected outcome.  Glad Danny didn't come into play.

-Tag titles was really fun until the end.  Finish got wonky. I can already see the dirt sheet write ups for this one.  Did The Hurt Syndicate at any point say "no" and Tony blinked or did Tony simply want to protect them in a "loss"?  I don't know! But the internet will certainly pretend to know.  Sloppy finish but I like Brodido 

-Okada/Swerve was good but this suffered from knowing that Swerve was likely taking time off. Everything made sense working around the knee but at no point did I think Okada wasn't winning so I just found it to be ok. 

-Athena/Toni Storm was really good but I felt it could have been longer, they were really cooking and then it went home.  I hope they run it back soon. 

-Hangman/MJF.  I already see people complaining about it being "overbooked"  but that's how MJF was going to try to win when he got desperate.  They had a really good match up until the finish where MJF just got more and more desperate. Ref actually counting the three but knowing the foot was on the rope was weird. I'll say that. But the rest was great, I loved Hangman cracking him over the skull and just leaving the contract on him like "go ahead, try me and see what happens." 

-Cage match had a lot of sick spots. Too many to count.  Glad to see the babyfaces win it especially for Ospreay and Tanahashi.  I thought the goodbye to the crowd was cool and would not have minded for the show to end there.  I'm torn.  I get why they put the heat on the Death Riders because Darby is far from done with Mox but I think Ospready waving goodbye for now would have been perfectly fine as an ending. 

Edited August 24 by Niners Fan in CT

[Ace]

The ending was ass. Could've had the happy moment with Will, but we apparently have to keep heat on the tiresome Deathriders and make the babyfaces look like idiots.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I didn't expect to be the only one on here who watched the show.  

[mystman]

31 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I didn't expect to be the only one on here who watched the show.  

I felt the show was...fine? The wrestling was certainly good, especially enjoyed Zabre/McGuinness. It just felt to me that everything was pretty predictable. The only match I felt unsure about the ending was Athena vs. Toni, and that kind of felt flat at the end. Like, Athena is ROH champ for like 1000 days, and she just loses like that? Brodito winning  was a shock, but the ending looked botched and the way Hurt Syndicate was taken out of the match was lame. MJF/Hangman was really good, but Hangman losing here would have been monumentally stupid. So the ending was fine, but predictable.

The main cage match was fun and violent, but the ending, with Ospereay getting attacked was excessive and essentially told us that they fully expect Will to be coming back after surgery, when they did a good job planting seeds that he might not all match long.

The only truly shocking twist was Wardlow coming back.

So it was a good but very predictable show. 

[COLETTI]

Very good show but that's what AEW does and, really, this didn't feel special enough. Not saying I regretted watching it all - was an absolute pleasure, but Anarchy In The Arena just two ppvs ago, the main event really didn't stick out as anything special at all.

One thing I liked a lot was Danielson on commentary really pushing how MJF could be unstoppable if he stopped taking the low road, cheating, etc - and it was illustrated in the end of the match just perfectly. Meanwhile, Page confidently throws down the still valid contract like, "You can try again but the outcome will be the same."

Also, I turned off as Will was waving to the crowd. OH WELL. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

24 minutes ago, COLETTI said:

Also, I turned off as Will was waving to the crowd. OH WELL. 

They did it post-credits.  I think people are being too harsh on this show. Was it all time classic?  No.  But it's still going to be one of the top ten PPV/PLEs of the year.