It happens once a year – two professional wrestling companies from two separate hemispheres collide to showcase the talents across the board and deliver dream matches and dream scenarios that add to the stories of both promotions. All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. We’ve got a big card here, so without further ado, here is a rundown of the Forbidden Door card.
Pre-Show
Athena vs Billie Starkz
This is the first in the quarterfinals for the Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament, where the dominant and heelish Athena tackles pro wrestling’s new and fresh prospect, Billi Starkz to advance in a cup to honor the late, great Owen Hart.
United Empire vs Los Ingobernables de Japon
A six-man tag team match that sees Jeff Cobb, TJP, and new AEW signee Kyle Fletcher against Shingo Takagi, Bushi, and Hiromu Takahashi – a match steeped mostly in NJPW action.
Stu Grayson vs El Phantasmo
Recent defectees of important stables within their respective companies, former Dark Order’s Stu Grayson is accompanied by Dutch and Vincent against the Bullet Club turncoat El Phantasmo.
Mogul Embassy vs Roppongi Vice and El Desperado
Swerve Strickland teams up with Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun against Trent Berretta, Rocky Romero, and Strong Style member, masked El Desperado. Will the smaller team beat the big and dastardly moguls?
Main Card
MJF (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
After trying to duck The Ace and Japanese wrestling as a whole for years, Maxwell Jacob Friedman is set to defend his AEW World Championship against the legendary, company-saving Hiroshi Tanahashi. Both men have been known to put on incredible matches, and I believe this may be a sleeper hit.
Le Suzuki Gods vs Sting, Darby Allin, and Tetsuya Naito
This trios match will pit Chris Jericho and Sting together for the first time ever, and they’re flanked by their younger counterparts of Sammy Guevara and Darby Allin, while Minoru Suzuki is in Jericho’s corner and LIJ’s leader Naito accompanies Sting and Darby. Jericho and Sting facing off for the first time is exciting, sure, but I’m ready for The Icon to come face to face with Suzuki.
CM Punk vs Satoshi Kojima
The muffin man who doesn’t live on Drury Lane takes on the lover of bread as Punk and Kojima battle in the quarterfinals of the Owen Hart Cup. Punk is the likely one to win, but I selfishly want Kojima to win, because he seems so nice and wholesome while kicking a lot of ass, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more accolades come his way because he has a big career filled with title reigns.
Orange Cassidy (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr vs Katsuyori Shibata vs Daniel Garcia
Four-way matches don’t get any more exciting than this, as the Jericho Appreciation Society’s Daniel Garcia seeks to claim the AEW International Championship from a tired and weary Orange Cassidy, but so does technical wrestling mastermind Zack Sabre Jr and The Wrestler and ROH Pure Champ, Katsuyori Shibata. Shibata and Sabre are my personal favorites to win.
Toni Storm (c) vs Willow Nightingale
The AEW Women’s World Championship is on the line as The Outcast’s Toni Storm takes on NJPW Strong Champ Willow Nightingale. Willow has a lot of power, but Toni is no slouch either. After months of antagonizing, surely the Babe with the Power will have lots of motivation. Can Toni retain over someone who is as fierce as Willow?
Adam Cole vs “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Things are about to get filthy, maybe even dirty as MJF’s new tag team partner Adam Cole has to contend with the former MMA fighter, Tom Lawlor, who is sure to give as much undisputed grief and pain to Cole.
Blackpool Combat Club, Konosuke Takeshita, and Shota Umino vs The Elite, Eddie Kingston, and Tomohiro Ishii
The BCC has been on a rampage of carnage and destruction following their heel turn and the recently turned heel Takeshita and Jon Moxley’s young boy Shota Umino seek to go through the combined forces of “Hangman” Adam Page, The Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston, and Chaos’s own Tomohiro Ishii. This may go down in history as the best ten-man tag team match ever as some of the company’s biggest stars fight on separate sides, for this is the match where war is holy and divine.
Sanada (c) vs “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry (with HOOK)
The leader of Just 5 Guys and current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Sanada defends his title against one of AEW’s homegrown guys. Sanada has been establishing dominance as champion since winning the title off of Kazuchika Okada at this year’s Sakura Genesis event, and to have someone as relatively unknown worldwide as Jack Perry, it feels like a sleight to him. Perry, on the other hand, is likely tired of losing and is showing hints at a brash attitude. Could a heel turn or betrayal to friend HOOK be on the horizon?
Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada
This match is a celebration of different eras, companies, and decades of wrestling. Technical wizard and in general a well-rounded Bryan Danielson challenges Kazuchika Okada to determine who is the ultimate best wrestler in the world. Danielson has proved in ROH and WWE why he’s the best and could stake his own claim in AEW, but first he must run down The Rainmaker, who has held legendary title reigns of his own in NJPW. The one true winner of all here is the fans.
Kenny Omega (c) vs Will Ospreay
It all comes down to the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match that started this year off with an absolute bang. Omega and Ospreay’s first meeting at Wrestle Kingdom 17 is still being talked about over every other match in any other company since it happened, and there’s a good reason for that. They’re telling a story that rests upon the importance of what both men mean to the company and what the years and the pandemic mean to them. This is about more than the title, this is about who is willing to leave their guts out on the ring and be able to walk back afterwards. This is going to be an emotional thrill ride, and if they were holding back the first time, I shudder to think of what we will see here.
So there you have it – a run-down that covers the matches that are sure to leave Toronto and the grater wrestling world clamoring and talking for the rest of the year, asking other companies how they plan to top it.
Catch Forbidden Door at tonight at 8ᴘᴍ ET/ 5ᴘᴍ PT on Bleacher Report.
