In the few weeks since I sat in one of the United Center’s very last rows for AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door in Chicago, I’ve been watching wrestling but haven’t really been thinking about it.
Not that I should have been thinking about it much in the first place. I’m just some kid that became some guy. Fell in with the Crazy MAX crew and started collecting tapes of wrestling footage from around the world. The Japanese ones stood out. A co-promoted New Japan show was the first: the Super J Cup 1994, which I watched in 2001 and found myself taken by the display put on by guys named Jushin Thunder Liger and the Great Sasuke. Then came the J*Crown Tournament. Then the Real World Tag League 2001 based on the recommendation of a guy who ended up in jail years later for stalking and harassment. I wish I made that up.
Something in there catapulted me into a bubble of infatuation and discovery that could sometimes devolve into resentment: with the sport for not being as good or fun as I thought it could be, with myself for enjoying and obsessing over it. Then there were the other fans, a community that introduced me to some of my best friends and also, mostly by of wrestling’s own reactions and interactions with them, could be a source of alienation and frustration.
As it will remind you more than any other business, wrestling is a business. Because of that, it’s bound by constraints both monetary and interpersonal. More simply put: to accomplish their goals, they need to make money and work together.
A month prior, as AEW and New Japan officially began working together, Forbidden Door seemed confusing. I still bought tickets on day one, obviously, but there were freak injuries and corporate entanglements that resulted in a confusion that — as other pleasures and responsibilities in life continued calling — I just tried to keep a distance from. Bide your time, Jason, and the reward will be worth it.
Injuries removed two of the top planned matches and denied the audience (me!) the joy of seeing the joy of CM Punk, who just returned to wrestling nine months ago after nine months away, headlining in his hometown in a match with New Japan’s Hiroshi Tanahashi. What remained too was “the business,” the public evolution of New Japan and AEW’s relationship. It began a couple years ago when Tanahashi coined the “Forbidden Door” term only for AEW to co-opt it to mean basically anyone outside of New Japan, and it persisted through CM Punk’s bummer of an injury, an Interim AEW Championship, a randomly introduced new All-Atlantic Championship, and an untraditional and awkward build-up that bordered on lazy, plot points and matches based on availability and convenience over anything else. For two whole weeks, the entire industry had to pretend Aussie Open were New Japan regulars. It was weird!
On the Dynamite before the show, Bryan Danielson (finally) announced he was out – but was choosing Zack Sabre Jr.’s mystery opponent. A week prior, Adam Cole quietly said Kazuchika Okada wouldn’t be on Forbidden Door – but Okada showed up. A Sting and Hiromu Takahashi 8-man tag match was announced too – but Hiromu pulled out with the flu days later.
Tomohiro Ishii won one of the funniest thrown-together tournaments ever to be New Japan’s representative in the the All-Atlantic Title decision match too, but he ended up injured and unable to travel – so he was replaced with Clark Connors, mostly of New Japan USA. Forbidden Door?? More like Pro Wrestling!
Like everything, AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door eventually just happened. It was rewarding, too: an evening of pure and unfiltered pro wrestling love enjoyed with friends I met in junior high, in college, and like last year on Twitter. One of them went with me to ROH’s Death Before Dishonor back in 2004, where we saw our first CM Punk main event as well as an undercard Four Corner Survival match with All Japan’s Kazushi Miyamoto, who was on excursion dressed as The Great Kazushi. What an business. But more on that later.
0. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. QT Marshall & Aaron Solo
Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI know match structure, how to work up a drama out of seemingly nothing, but here they were in front of a crowd that cheered when the bell rang. It was the largest and loudest bunch of people they’ve been in front of since the pandemic, and in addition to triumphantly taking in the noise they delivered a complete and quality tag match. Good vibes and the start of a trend. ***1/4
0. Lance Archer vs. Nick Comoroto
I had to grab a friend from one of the United Center’s entrance gates (speed up, Ticketmaster Transfer!), and for a little while I was sprinting through the arena thinking I might miss a highly anticipated entrance from The Acclaimed. Then I heard Archer’s music, and honestly I slowed down. When I watched it afterwards, this match of very imposing wrestlers was short and to the point, though not enough to the point where either was able to stand out — even if Archer, who is headed to Japan for the G1 Climax, did a cannonball splash and rope-walk moonsault. **1/2
0. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
When this match with El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru was announced a few days before the show, only then did it feel like real New Japan. The match was great too, extra impressive considering these guys probably just met for the first time the night of. Keith Lee was to Kanemaru as Brock Lesnar was to Keith Lee in the Royal Rumble 2020, impressed with the size of this guy’s balls.
Rather than running the ropes or trading holds, undersized Kanemaru opened the match sitting on the turnbuckle to square up with big Keith. It got a huge reaction. He delivered some Small Leg Work too, a concept which from 2002-2004 he became such a master at that he was able to rely on it for the rest of his career. Keith wrecked him anyways, though he did power through and pay it off with a figure-four leglock late in the match. Swerve and Desperado basically auditioned for a future singles match together too. ***1/2
Ricky Starks cut a promo from a suite with Powerhouse Hobbs after the match, and it was nearly as awe-inspiring as the James Webb pictures.
0. The Gunn Club & Max Caster w/ Anthony Bowens vs. Yuya Uemura, Kevin Knight, Alex Coughlin & The DKC
I went to grab one more friend and sprinted to the point of uncomfortable sweat to make sure we were in place for this: The Acclaimed and The Ass Boys. I bought a seat for New Japan but, outside of one surprise later on, probably reacted most passionately as I celebrating scissoring and “Daddy Ass.”
What did I even just write? What is any of this? The LA Noojies (and Yuya!) had a solid showcase here opposite a very fun act that was peaking in late-June. It was a match filled with guys whose wrestling development was uniquely affected by the pandemic, though they still brought all the quick rays and basic pro wrestling you could ask for. ***
1. Blood & Guts Advantage Match: Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino vs. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara w/ Tay Conti
Awesome 6-man tag featuring established veterans and interesting up-and-comers that somehow seemed to feature everybody. Wheeler and Shooter both got sections of showing off then going at Jericho, Eddie Kingston wanted Jericho dead, and Minoru Suzuki wanted everyone dead. Would love to be a fly on the wall for Jericho pitching a Suzuki/Sammy match, I’ll say that.
Given the match had a few of AEW’s most over acts, Sammy and Tay seemed like an unnecessary addition to add heat — but they were there too, and Sammy did a Shooting Star Press to the floor. Shota firing up at the end then getting taken out from behind by a Judas Effect was such a surprising and perfectly executed finish too I’m going a whole half-star higher. ****1/2
2. 3-Way Winner Takes All Tag Match – ROH & IWGP Tag Team Title: FTR [c] vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [c] vs. Roppongi Vice
A strangely booked wrestling match that stayed that way as they tried to get into a rythym early, and then FTR’s Dax Harwood got carried to the back with an apparent injury. It was more confusing live than it was on tape, probably because live I didn’t have the benefit of Taz walking me through it all in my ear.
O-khan got to be a little weird among some pleasant enough if not to too-cooperative wrestling before Dax stormed down to the ring and they delivered a hot finish that took full advantage of the crowd firing the freak up. The crowd pops for FTR keep getting bigger, and this match ended up a pretty key chapter in that surprising book. ***1/4
3. 4-Way Match – AEW All-Atlantic Title: PAC vs. Malakai Black vs. Miro vs. Clark Connors
There was a lot of action and movement in this match, but all I could vividly remember after the show and weeks later was odd-man-out Clark Connors constantly being disregarded until he put Miro through a table. Not amazing, but a more entertaining and impressive swing than Money in the Bank or something. ***1/2
4. Sting, Darby Allin & Shingo Takagi vs. The Young Bucks & ELP w/ Hikuleo
Kevin Kelly’s “Sting-er-noble de Japon” to begin the match reminded me why I’ve stuck to New Japan’s Japanese commentary all these years. The true wrestling fan will be a bro and not embarrass his fellow wrestling fan.
Though the match was missing Hiromu Takahashi, it did have Sting doing a plancha from the entrance tunnel and a titty twister revenge spot. A low-stakes match that had too much talent to not end up way better, and it did. I got to see Sting and Shingo Takagi do double-teams, pounded my chest like a gorilla, and watched a friend take in the entirety of ELP’s elaborate backrake spot in silence, nod and finally remark with no hint of irony, “that was interesting.”
Hikuleo was there too. ****
5. AEW Women’s World Title: Thunder Rosa [c] vs. Toni Storm
Regular viewers of AEW might not know it but Thunder Rosa is so good. The match she had in TJPW’s Mimi Yamashita that aired on DARK from Japan was excellent, but this was just as impressive: the crowd had just watched Sting dab up with Shingo Takagi and an uncomfortable amount of them left for the facilities during entrances, but Rosa and Toni Storm stayed confident, kept their shit together, and delivered a match as good as most on this show. Sometimes you just rely on your wrestling, you know? The Fire Thunder Driver near fall was incredible live and on the rewatch, too. ***1/2
6. IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay [c] w/ Aussie Open vs. Orange Cassidy
Orange Cassidy plays a comedy wrestler while sneakily an athletic genius and Will Ospreay is an athletic genius who has sneakily become more in on the joke. It ran a little long to fully get across all of those things, but the last 10 minutes closed up strong enough to make up for that too. ****
After the match, New Japan’s Katsuyori Shibata — retired since 2017 outside of a one-off exhibition match earlier this year — made a surprise appearance to confront Will Ospreay then Orange Cassidy. All I remember is screaming “no” then “oh fuck” a lot. Katsu was an early favorite back in his young lion days, during his difficult young man days, and here he did the big dropkick among other physical things. Go watch it.
7. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Claudio Castagnoli/Cesaro was literally the most suitable replacement for Bryan Danielson, and much like the Goto/YOSHI opener they didn’t rely on curiosity nor hold back a thing — this was a whole damn match! There was a hot start and cool holds and a build to Claudio’s Swing, which was delivered in earnest. ZSJ did his thing, but impressively blended in the background for the guy who was staying around. He also held onto a triangle choke hold when Cesaro lifted out of it and forced them both over the top rope and to the floor. Physical, heated, good pro wrestling. ****
8. 4-Way Match – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Jay White [c] w/ Gedo vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
The journey here was weird and the match was… fine, the kind of one that gets “holy shit” chants at the start then just kind of peters out as you wait for them to figure things out or hit bigger moves and thoughts appear like: well, why was I saying “holy shit” in the first place? Bullet Club Jay White and B.C.-adjacent Adam Cole kind of teamed up, Okada did his running crossbody over the guardrail on both them, and Hangman Page hung with Okada. It was a decent but forgettable match bound to be remembered anyways for its’ awkward finish, where White pinned a concussed Cole after Okada missed a Rainmaker on Cole. Yeah, I don’t know either. ***1/4
9. AEW Interim World Title: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Mox picked up the NOOJ style quick in the G1 a couple years ago and proved he still had it here, playing the greatest hits with Tanahashi played in front of a loving if not spent crowd. By this point in the night and probably a little before I was pretty completely exhausted, but by way of elbows and High Fly Flows they willed the people into it — mostly.
They packed a lot of cool stuff in, but some of it — like Mox dodging a Sling Blade and tossing Tana over the top only for Tana to gingerly skin-the-cat and return to the ring — felt like something fun in a vacuum or from a match lower on the card, maybe not the main event of such a physical and action-packed card. They brought it home strong, as is the New Japan way, with a headbutt and Kamigoye from Tanahashi as well as Mox’s bloody face and demeanor really selling his need to kill New Japan’s Ace and regain AEW’s strap. ****
We left before the run-ins. Thanks to the friends I spent the night with — I needed it.
Happy Thoughts: Any of Forbidden Door’s disappointments in the lead-up were made up for with an endless serving of fresh and excellent wrestling matches in front of a big and blazing hot crowd starved for that sort of thing. It was either the peak of my personal pro wrestling fandom or the beginning of an even cooler pro wrestling, and considering I’m finishing this up on the day Vince McMahon’s Twitter account announced his retirement at 77-years-old I’m actually more bullish on the later than I have ever been. Katsuyori Shibata really showed up too, right? That was real? It happened? So good. 5.0 / 5.0
