Last night Tony Khan and the folks at New Japan Pro Wrestling put on AEW Forbidden Door 2 from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. All I can say is damn what an event that was! There were thrills galore. Let’s take a look at the card top to bottom as well as the fallout from the event.
Let’s start with one match that was supposed to take place but was cancelled. Adam Cole vs. Tom Lawlor had to be cancelled due to Adam Cole being ill. Tony Khan had announced this just a few hours prior to the event in a tweet.
Due to illness, @AdamColePro isn't cleared tonight, therefore the Adam Cole vs @FilthyTomLawlor match is canceled.
Despite the change, tonight will be an amazing show!
Thank you to everyone watching #ForbiddenDoor, either here live in Toronto @ScotiabankArena or on ppv tonight!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 25, 2023
There was no indication of what the illness that Cole had was, so we wish Adam Cole a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him soon on AEW television!
Zero Hour
Forbidden Door had four matches on the pre-show Zero Hour, you can watch that by clicking here. They were CHAOS vs. Model Embassy, Athena vs. Billlie Starkz (Owen Heart Foundation First Round Match), El Phantasmo vs. Stu Grayson and Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. United Empire.
CHAOS (Chuck Taylor, Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta and El Desperado) vs. Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) – Winners Mogul Embassy via Swerve Stomp
Athena vs. Billie Starkz (Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round Match) – The start of this match was all talk about Billie Starkz and how she is just 18 years old. Athena gets the W to advance in the tournament.
El Phantasmo vs. Stu Grayson – Stu comes out with his new crew The Righteous. El Phantasmo gets the W with a springboard DDT into a CR2 for the pin.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi) vs. United Epire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher and TJP (TJ Perkins)) – Takagi (anyone else thinking about Die Hard?) takes out TJP for the pin and the W.
AEW Forbidden Door 2 – Main Card
AEW World Championship Match – MJF (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
MJF comes out full heel mode with a robe that says NJPW is an indy on the back. Obviously with how AEW has been setting things up, we knew the outcome before the match even began. This was a solid opening match and came to a halt when Max used the Dynamite Diamond Ring to cheap shot the challenger while the ref was unable to see. Pinfall for the three count and your winner and still champion….. MJF
CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima (Owne Hart Foundation Tournament First Round Match)
This was a solid back and forth match between the two. At one point on the outside, Kojima knocked Punk over the barricade into the bell arena and he almost took out Dasha. The crowd was definitely pro-Kojima in this one and Punk played into it very well at one point doing a little Hogan ear followed by a Big Leg Drop. Poor Punk took an elbow drop off the top by Kojima right to the (as Taz called it) Yam Bag. Punk retaliated with an elbow of his own, but his was on target and finally hits a GTS for the pin. In a show of sportsmanship after the match, Punk gets Kojima to his feet and raises his hand as well.
AEW International Championship Match – Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Another solid match on the night, with all of these guys getting their stuff in especially Garcia getting his dancing in during the match. It looked like we were getting a new champion in this one as the end was a bunch of potential winners. Garcia hit Sabre Jr. with a mean piledriver, Shibata got the save with a PK, Cassidy pops in tosses out Shibata and pins Garcia with a mouse trap for the W and to retain the title.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship – Sanada (c) vs. “Jungleboy” Jack Perry
This was another match that is worth a watch on the card. These guys went back and forth trading shots and Poisonranas. After a hard fought bout, Sanada hits a moonsault on Perry for the pinfall and the W retaining his IWGP World Heavyweight Title. Post match, HOOK helps Jungleboy out of the ring and up the ramp. Jungleboy kneels down at the stage and then hits Hook with a monster lariat taking him out. He grabs the FTW Championship, looks at it and tosses it at HOOK. Heel turn by Jungleboy! Taz on commentary really sold this as well and his concern for HOOK.
Blackpool Combat Club ( Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta) with Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino vs. The Elite (Hangman Adam Page and the Young Bucks) with Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii
As expected, this one was a slugfest between these crews. Eddie and Mox were chopping the shit out of each other. All hell broke loose a few times during the match. There were superkicks, shooting star presses, swings and even a Hart Attack. Finally Ishii hits Yuta with a brainbuster for the pin. The Elite get the W again over the BCC.
AEW Women’s World Championship – Toni Storm (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
Let’s just start with how over Willow is with the crowd. They love her! It looks like this will be your typical match with interference by Soho and Saraya causing the W for Storm. The ref finds spray paint in the ring and tosses the Outcasts from ringside. The two combatants go at it one on one and finally Toni gets to gouge the eyes of Willow and hits Storm Zero for the W and to retain her title. We are shown Skye Blue and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. watching on monitors backstage.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship – Kenny Omega (c) vs. Will Ospreay
To quote old JR “What a Slobberknocker”…. This was a hell of a match, and has a very strong lead on match of the year. First and foremost I want to say I hope that Kenny is alright, he took a bump in a Tiger Driver that looked rough right on his neck/back of his head towards the end of this one. I don’t even know how to describe this match, but these two put on one hell of a show with this one. There was high flying, cheating Don Callis, power moves and more. One thing I don’t get is that if Don Callis was ejected from ringside, how was he able to come back and be out there. This one ended with a new champion as Will Ospreay hit Omega with Storm Breaker for the pin and new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. Following the match Michael Nakazawa came out to help Kenny backstage.
Darby Allin, Sting and Tetsuya Naito vs. Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki)
This was the one sloppy match on the night, in my opinion. There was a spot where Sting was on the table on the outside and Jericho had Guevara do a 630 off the ropes onto Sting but it seemed like Sting was supposed to get out of the way or something but he took the hit. He was up but we didn’t see Sammy the rest of the match. Naito gets the pin on Suzuki for the W. Sidenote, at the Media Scrum following the event, Jericho stormed in while Sting and Darby were up on the stage and demanded a tag match for Wednesday night. Tony gave him the match.
The “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
Time for the main event is here and it is what has been dubbed a dream match between these two. This was another match that was great. The storytelling in the match was spot on and these two really put their best forward. During the match at some point, Bryan fractured his forearm and you could see the pain. After being hit with a tombstone on the ramp, the two are back in the ring and it appears that Bryan is convulsing so the ref calls in the Dr. This was a ruse by Bryan and sets up him taking advantage of the situation. He is struggling with the LeBell Lock due to the arm and finally switches over to an armscissor which he really cinches in on Okada. To everyones surprise Okada taps out in the hold and Bryan Danielson picks up the W.
What a pay per view by AEW. They knocked it out of the park with AEW Forbidden Door 2. Following the event, at the scrum Bryan confirmed the fractured forearm and that he has a timetable of 6-8 weeks out of action. Where do we go from here? Will the BCC continue their losing streak to the Elite? What is next on the agenda for MJF? Who will CM Punk feud with on Collision?
What did you think about AEW Forbidden Door 2? Did you enjoy it? What was your favorite match? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or hit us up on Twitter by clicking here. As always stay tuned to Culture Splat for more content coming your way daily!
