On paper, if you were to show this card to a wrestling fan in… 2020 maybe, it would’ve been like a fever dream, one only possible on a computer game… After the initial defection of The Elite away from New Japan Pro Wrestling to start-up All Elite Wrestling at the beginning of 2019, it was abundantly clear that a lot of once close relationships had been shattered. The Japanese promotion felt they had been blindsided, just as they had booked Madison Square Garden for the upcoming WrestleMania weekend, for a joint show with their American partners Ring Of Honor, and just as their expansion into America was really getting going, suddenly 5 of their biggest talents were gone. Ever since AEW began it had been hoped fences could be mended, and it looked as if the ice was somewhat thawing when AEW’s top name Jon Moxley was also still working over in Japan… and we then had Kenta, Lance Archer and more going back and forth. Tony Khan also seemed to have built up a relationship with Impact Wrestling, but as cool as that was, it wasn’t THE relationship wrestling fans wanted AEW to have… and then, FINALLY, on the April 20th episode of AEW Dynamite… all our dreams came true…
The event itself had many ups and downs along the way leading up to it. For starters a number of top names missed the show (mainly due to injury), and so it was maybe not as ‘dream match’ heavy as the 2023 edition looks set to be. We had no Omega, no Danielson, no Naito, no Hiromu Takahashi, no CM Punk… but still the matches were set, most with little or no storyline build-up, with a couple of exceptions, but it still looked to be a heck of a fun show.
And ‘a heck of a fun show’ it most certainly was. So here for you now, a few days prior to the 2023 follow-up, is my thoughts on a show widely viewed as one of the best wresting shows of 2022. Here is my review of AEW & New Japan Pro Wrestling’s first ever joint PPV, Forbidden Door 2022. Enjoy, I know I did.
Thankfully (not because the matches are anything close to being bad, but just because there’s so many of them) they’ve moved away from pre-show matches, but for the record this is what we had the pleasure of seeing before the main show got underway…
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi) defeated The Factory (Aaron Solo & QT Marshall) – This was the match that taught us that this crowd was gonna be HOT! Far from a glamour match, but solid in-ring and great fun. **3/4
Lance Archer defeated Nick Comoroto – Great big man match, short but sweet, and Archer is AWESOME! **3/4
Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland) defeated Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) – This SLAPPED! But, of course it did… ****
Max Caster, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn (with Anthony Bowens) defeated Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, The DKC & Kevin Knight – Felt very much like a way to get the Acclaimed/Gunns act on the show somehow, but it was good fun and a great match to pick to lead us into the main card. **1/2
And with that over, it was time for the main card. Our ring announcers were AEW’s Justin Roberts and New Japan’s Takuro Shibata (Bobby Cruise of ROH did the 3-way tag). The commentary team varied throughout the show for different matches, but did feature: Excalibur, Jim Ross and Taz and Tony Schiavone of AEW, Kevin Kelly of New Japan and Caprice Coleman of ROH.
Minoru Suzuki & Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara (with Tay Conti) defeated Eddie Kingston & Shota Umino & Wheeler Yuta
As I said before, but it was definitely evident during this match, this was an amazing crowd that were into pretty much everything. But particularly so here they went mad for Suzuki and the song, although I’d say Eddie Kingston got the biggest reaction coming out. The match itself was as wild and action-packed as you’d expect, but it was fun to watch each of the various dynamics throughput the match. My favourite of those I think was Shota and Jericho, he made him look like such a star and I can definitely see Umino being a future IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
For the finish Shota had a Boston Crab locked in on Jericho, but Sammy broke that up by hitting Umino with 2 superkicks, before Minoru Suzuki hit a Gotch Style Piledriver to Eddie Kingston, meaning that only Umino remained (Wheeler Yuta had been taken out already as well), and although he fought valiantly, he eventually fell to a Judas Effect, and so Chris Jericho got the win for his team. This thus meant the JAS would have the advantage in the Blood and Guts match that was to come the next Wednesday after this show, which would see the JAS face Eddie Kingston and the Blackpool Combat Club (including their new member, but more on that later…)…
This was loads of fun and the crowd loved every second. Great stuff to start us off.
****1/2
FTR defeated United Empire and Roppongi Vice in a three way tag match to retain the ROH Tag Team titles and win the IWGP Tag Team titles
This match from the start was all about one team, from the crowd reaction to the way the match was put together, at a time when there was absolute certainty that they were the best tag team in the world, and the most wildly popular. FTR got a HUGE reaction when coming out for the match, and the main angle of the match was an injury suffered by Dax Harwood (who was getting a few shouts from people as wrestler of the year), and so the spotlight was on Cash Wheeler for a time. Jeff Cobb made the most of this advantage, before Trent tagged in and he then took down Great O-Khan, before then trying a spinning ddt on Cobb, that was blocked though before United Empire and Trent and Rocky brawled outside the ring. Eventually Cash got back into the match, and was struggling looking for someone to tag… and that’s when Dax made his return to the match to an almighty pop. Dax tagged in and immediately went at both of United Empire, hitting a clothesline to Great O-Khan and then THREE suplexes to Jeff Cobb! Later in the match, Jeff Cobb hit a standing moonsault on poor Rocky Romero (which was something pretty special to see by the way), before Trent was thrown to Cobb who hit a big German Suplex, but only got a nearfall. Rocky went over the ropes to take down Great O-Khan and Cash, Dax then tagged in but almost got caught immediately by a pin (we may need a VAR check on that pin by the way, not that the crowd were in any doubt about a mistake being made…), after a few more close calls, FTR hit the Big Rig (it’ll always be the Shatter Machine to me) on Rocky, and that was enough for the win. The only result that made any sense really, and despite a couple of… ROCKY moments… this was very good stuff. FTR simultaneously now held the AAA, ROH and IWGP tag titles, sadly they didn’t do the full set. I do wonder if FTR didn’t have that time off before re-signing what would’ve been, I said at the time and I absolutely believe now they should’ve put the AEW tag titles on The Bucks, and then done a winner takes all match to decide their series (it’s 1-1 between them as we speak), either in a 2/3 falls or a ladder match… but for many reasons it wasn’t to be, and at least we still got the FTR-Briscoes stuff, which even more so now is truly special.
****1/4
Backstage we saw Tony Schiavone interview both Juice Robinson (who had the IWGP United States title belt with him, more on that later) and the IWGP World Champion Jay White. Jay said the the upcoming match between Will Ospreay and Orange Cassidy was just a number one contenders match to face him, the REAL IWGP US Champion… ok… (this storyline did my head in not going to lie…)…
ANYWAY… Of all the matches on this card, I think going in I personally was most looking forward to the next match. BANGER ALERT!!!
Pac defeated Clark Connors & Miro & Malakai Black to become the first AEW All-Atlantic Champion
To some, New Japan’s Clark Connors (in the match as a replacement Tomohiro Ishii) may of been a ‘weak link’, but in the match itself he absolutely stood toe to toe with his more name-worthy opponents. The early story was Malakai and Pac going at it, with Clark trying to stay out of it… only for Miro to drag him into things. Miro was probably the star of the whole match, and I died laughing when Miro pulled Connors away from Black and out of the ring by his HAIR! The action didn’t really relent all match, as Miro set up for his big kick, only for Pac to hit a superkick, before then going at Black with a plancha. Later Malakai went outside the ring to get a table, before leaning it against the barricade, Miro and Black then tried putting one another through said table, but it was actually Connors who speared Miro through it! The crowd were hugely into Miro, and he cleared house leaving only Pac left, he put him in the Game Over, but as he did that Malakai hit the mist to Miro, and he then got Connors in a submission, but before he could submit and Black get the win, Pac came flying off the top with the Black Arrow then put Connors in the Brutalizer and he tapped out. A great finish to a really good match, and your first ever AEW All Atlantic Champion is THE BASTARD, PAC!
****1/4
Darby Allin & Sting & Shingo Tagaki defeated The Young Bucks & El Phantasmo (with Hikuleo)
We had the AWESOME start of the match where Shingo came out, then Darby, then their Bullet Club opponents… and then the lights went out and STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING came flying down with quite an amazing dive onto his opponents below, crowd went wild for it of course as they did for most of what happened the rest of the match.
Amazingly, this is the first time The Young Bucks and Darby Allin have shared a ring together, and Darby got put in the corner by all 3 opponents, before coming back by slamming down El Phantasmo. Shingo was a monster in this match too, as he got a nearfall with a suplex on Nick Jackson, he later hit a Death Valley Driver to Nick… and then tagged in The Icon! Sting hit the Stinger Splash on Phantasmo, but Hikuleo tried to distract the ref, allowing for Phantasmo to hit a low blow to Sting. And then, we had the most gif’d and one of the more talked about moments of this whole show actually… Long story short, Sting no sold a load of superkicks by the Bucks… now…
People can say what they want about that… but if the live crowd (particularly this show, which is pretty much solely aimed at a certain section of the AEW audience) loved it, I’d say it was a good idea. But that’s just me… Later on for the finish, Matt and Nick went for the BTE Trigger on Sting, but he ducked and then hit a double Scorpion Death Drop, then hit El Phantasmo a low blow, and then Darby Allin got a Coffin drop to the outside on Hikuleo… and all this allowed for Shingo to eventually hit Made In Japan for the win on El Phantasmo. This was a good ‘party match’ with some great wrestling too.
****
Then a… segment… Shota Umino was being interviewed backstage … the fka 2.0 interrupted with Chris Jericho… and then Jericho hit Shota with a fireball… yep… as you do…
Thunder Rosa (C) defeated Toni Storm to retain the AEW Women’s Championship
This was very solid. It’s since come out they wanted some women from Stardom in this spot as well, but it wasn’t to be. The match really kicked into gear when Toni SLAPPED Rosa, and then they went and RASSLED! I particularly liked the spot where Storm hit Thunder Rosa with a German Suplex on the apron, and followed that up with a great spinning ddt to the floor. Toni got a 2 count after a hip attack and a ddt back in the ring not long after. Thunder came back after, but only got a 2 count from a Fire Thunder Driver. Storm seemed to have hurt her shoulder, and so when she went for the piledriver she couldn’t get it, this allowed for Rosa to hit the finisher of her mentor Dustin Rhodes, and this earned her the 1,2,3.
***3/4
Next up… I knew it would be good, as much as I was quite sure what to expect, but I did not think this next match would be as FUCKING BRILLIANT as it was!!!
Will Ospreay (C) (with Aussie Open) defeated Orange Cassidy to retain the IWGP United States Championship
We had an excellent hype video previewing the match, and Jim Ross joined the announce team for this one, but less satisfying was the BS with Juice Robinson having ‘stolen’ the IWGP US title belt… He had been stripped of it having cited illness or some bollocks for missing a title defence, but he still claimed to be champion, so for this title match, we didn’t have said championship belt… This match also made me really miss the days OC had ‘Where Is My Mind’ by The Pixies as his theme song… The Crowd were SO into this one, it was hard not to be to be honest. There were SO many GREAT exchanges and so many GREAT nearfalls, far too many to mention, but I will do my best to highlight some of the them…
After Ospreay had slowed things down and took over, he hit a series of kicks to Orange Cassidy… only for OC to hit a dropkick. He then hit his… own… unique… version of the same kicks, to which Ospreay looked like OC had just kicked his cat, then Orange hit a genuine superkick and then the full force kicks.
We had a great spot where OC sent Ospreay into the top of the ring post, but it was one mounted with a camera which made for quite the shot. Then things got worse again for Ospreay as he was duped by OC feigning injury, and so whilst Will thought he would strike whilst his opponent was weak, he instead got caught with Beach Break for a 2 count which absolutely got me at the time.
Will tried for a Cutter and then hit the Oscutter, but Orange kicked out. Ospreay went for the finish, but Orange dodged it and then countered a Storm Breaker into a cradle and another nearfall.
Ospreay then seemed to decide that enough was enough, and he hit the Hidden Blade elbow… but OC KICKED OUT! An astounded Ospreay immediately hit a Storm Breaker and this was indeed enough for the 1,2,3. This was an amazing match and one of my fave to watch from 2022.
*****
After the match… oh man this was just the greatest… Aussie Open battered OC, Trent and Rocky tried to make the save, but couldn’t help much… AND THEN…
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT! I guess. YOU’VE GOT TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!
AND WE WERE NOT DONE YET. NOT EVEN CLOSE!
Next up was supposed to be a technical wrestling fan’s wet dream, sadly a Bryan Danielson injury ruined that… and so we were left with whoever Danielson had hand picked as his replacement… A man who would not only be the newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club, but would also be a part of the upcoming Blood and Guts match too! So our boy Zack would make his way out… and then, well as Taz said “who is it?”…
I’ve had a few moments in my time as a wrestling fan that I’ve loved, but few that brought me just total joy and happiness. This was one of those special moments. And the reaction from this great man’s former colleagues in WWE was testament to that.
Claudio Castagnoli defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
OBVIOUSLY, this match was fucking incredible. But there were two spots that had me in a genuine chokehold…
THIS was how the match STARTED!!!
I LOVED THIS! And I loved it more so because it wasn’t the finish. It told everyone right off the bat that Claudio was LEGIT, but also I’ve a feeling WWE would’ve booked it that way and Zack is buried then. No dream match. But one day… that IS going to finish someone, and we’re all going to go nuts for it. EXCEPTIONAL stuff.
My other highlight of this GREAT match, was Claudio once again proving he is a freak of nature… He may well be the strongest wrestler we’ve seen, with my regards to Mark Henry…
WHAT in the actual FUCK was that???
I could’ve seen this match go an hour and I’d of been totally OK with it. Zack showed off his whole arsenal of offence by (at different points in the match) working on Claudio’s arm, using a kneebar, then going at the injured arm and then back to the leg, he snapped Claudio’s fingers, he twisted Claudio’s NECK, he hit an armbar, then a triangle choke, but time after time Claudio stood firm. He even tried the big swing, but Zack locked on a guillotine, he tried again later but ZSJ got the ropes, and finally the crowd begged him for it, so Castagnoli did indeed do the giant swing…
But could only muster 5 rotations before his arm gave way… It really got going towards the end, as Zack kicked Claudio over and over for a nearfall, until FINALLY Castagnoli hit a BIG pop-up uppercut punch, and then a powerbomb (whilst Zack’s arm was trapped) to get the win. Yet ANOTHER great match on this fantastic show.
****1/2
Jay White (C) (with Gedo) defeated Adam Cole & Adam Page & Kazuchika Okada to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
I find it really tough to talk about this match. Not that it wasn’t GREAT, and between 4 of my absolute favourites, but because it was Adam Cole’s last match for almost 9 months. So apologies in advance.
Okada got a GIANT pop, because, of course he did. The match was really fun seeing the dynamics with the two heels and the two faces, but none of them really getting along. Indeed Cole tried to team up with Jay, but we mainly got White and Okada and Cole and Hangman early on. Jay White (who I hope gets a big time match with a certain PUNK very soon) took out Cole with a big chop, then hit sleeper suplexes to Cole and Okada and Page. The two heels and the two faces then exchanged strikes, and later we had Hangman coming off the top with a great moonsault to Okada and Adam Cole on the outside. Hangman went for the Buckshot Lariat, but Jay avoided it and then tried to hit the Bladerunner on Page, who in turn countered that into the Deadeye. Hangman then hit the Buckshot, but Okada broke up the pin. The Rainmaker hit a move to Cole and then the Rainmaker, but before he could finish the job… Jay White hit Okada with a Bladerunner and then got him out the ring, and Jay pinned Adam Cole to win the match and retain his title. The finish did come across as odd at the time, but it of course makes sense now. Excalibur did reassure us that Cole left the ring on his own accord, but with what we now know, this was a nasty one. Wrestling can be great, but very, VERY dangerous people.
****
Jon Moxley (with William Regal) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the interim AEW Champion
This was a BATTLE! They worked technically really well together, but also fought hard too. We even had Moxley put Tana crashing into the ringside barricade and then through a table with a Uranage, and Tanahashi only just got back in the ring in time to stop the count, but he soon got his revenge as after a Slingblade, Moxley went out to the floor and by the time he came up again… he was bleeding, because Mox can’t not these days… Tanahashi then compounded this by hitting High Fly Flow to Mox on the outside. We had a great period where they each exchanged finishes; Mox went for a Paradigm Shift but was countered, he did though hit it a second time only to be caught with a nearfall after a cradle pin. Tana countered again and hit a Kamigoye and then the High Fly Flow TWICE, only to then be countered himself as he went for the pin and was hit with a Bulldog choke by Mox. He fought out of it though, and countered into a nearfall. Mox then BATTERED Tanahashi with a series of elbows, and was BOOED by the crowd for this, he got a choke in as the crowd started chanting for the Ace, but it was no good as Moxley hit a Death Rider and that got him the win. Jon Moxley is your AEW INTERIM World Champion.
****
After the match, and some mutual respect show, well it all kicked off really. Daniel Garcia and Jericho came out and attacked Moxley and Tanahashi, Eddie Kingston made the save, followed by Wheeler Yuta, Santana and Ortiz, then came the rest of the JAS, until finally Claudio Castagnoli got the big entrance and cleared house (a big uppercut to Jericho and TWENTY rotations of a giant swing to Matt Maynard). The JAS promptly retreated, as Claudio and Kingston… had words…
And that was the show! Many peoples show of the year for 2022, and I wouldn’t argue too much with them. And what’s wild is… I think this years WILL be even better!
Josh.