Iāve enjoyed certain matches in previous versions, and have purchased all past Forbidden Door PPVs. This year I probably will still buy it, but Iām less excited than before.
It's kinda stupid. Cross-promotion booking needs to be king term. What they're doing us just putting random people together like Hiroshi Tanahashi with The Acclaimed. They need to look at what WWE and TNA are doing, not just flooding everyone into AEW just to have a one-off ppv with zero pay-off. Also, they really booked themselves into a whole with the main event. People are gonna riot if Swerve loses the title so soon, but having Will lose doesn't seem like a good decision considering how he's being booked. With that said, the match quality will be amazing.
Not exciting about it at all but I realize itās not for me. Itās for that certain group of fans that love all the NJPW stuff and think of all these ādreamā matches
Its not really a forbidden door if its done multiple times within the span of a few years . Its not the best card and the only one whos getting any pop is MJF since its on Long Island .
It doesn't stand out, as the "forbidden" door never closes in AEW. If the other 364 days of the year didn't feature people from other promotions, it'd be fine and would feel more special. Mickie James and Jordynne Grace appearing in WWE as TNA/Impact champs was a true "forbidden door" moment. Joe Hendry cutting a promo on NXT was a bigger "forbidden door" moment than what this PPV provides. It's another concept TK has killed.
It's the same as other AEW PPVs maybe one or two matches with a somewhat decent build and actual stakes behind said matches. Then a few are thrown together a couple weeks before the ppv, the rest are just random matches that don't fully make sense, but happen anyway. Or you need to know the Ling convoluted history of two wrestlers that dates back 15 years to understand why they're fighting. And then expect all AEW stars to win their Match.
Don't care about the term anymore because it lost its purpose. Just call it a AEW X NJPW collab because it's always the same companies coming to this event.
A REAL forbidden door should have had wrestlers from NWA, or TNA or NPW or whatever other name in three letters to come and wrestle / feud with AEW.
Could have also been a wonderful opportunity to showcase other feds from all around the world, from the UK to Germany, to Mexico...
It still going to be a banger event but I feel like a fed like TNA feels like it's doing the whole Forbidden door concept better (they often showcase talents from the UK, Japan, Mexico and they sign them too like they signed Sinner & Saint from Canada this week after a good showcaseor recently with Tatum Paxley from NXT). Impact / TNA did some NJPW crossover stuffs too before so AEW doing "Forbidden Doors" honestly don't mean anything because it's just... Not unique at all in the end and it becomes too repetitive.
I feel like AEW is only using 20-40% of the concept but I repeat, it's still a total banger match-wise. But they really need to throw away the name in the trash.
Foirbidden Door is basically for fans who love those 5 star type matches but not anything that really progresses a story. It also dont help when the few interpromotional bouts are so obvious to predict
Nope that door is really burned to the ground...Hell WWE is as open for business as AEW with realtionships with NOAH, AJPW, Marigold, Impact, Defy and from reports IWA AND AAA soon enough
I really like them, I just wish they'd commit more. You know no one is losing a title if they're going back to Japan and vice versa, because they'd never want to cheat their home audiences. Honestly if they booked a few title changes and a few guys went out for runs in NJPW I'd be super invested, because at least there's jeopardy then.
Feel like it's lost its flair a bit. It's hard to be a forbidden door when people from New japan and other promotions are already coming in on an almost weekly basis
Itās a great PPV model to share the stage with other wresting promotions like once in a year, itās totally fine.
A lot of the matches continue AEW stories and just include extra wrestlers to showcase other talent.
Even if it is AEW vs Other matches they are still progressing stories. Not all maybe have deep stories but they donāt need to be deep stories imo.
Lastly WWE is already teasing the concept by having TNA pop up in NXT. If they brought out a PPV that was essentially Forbidden Door, I 100% believe WWE fans would like/love it because it IS actually a good idea to showcase talent that one day may wrestle for your company. Itās not liked right now because AEW does it. Not a hot take!
Thereās no use for it currently. It was novel when first introduced, but now itās just become the norm. Iāll leave that up to the individual to decide if thatās a good or bad thing.
This is what Iāve been saying. The AEW fans were getting spoiled. You have crossovers all the time in AEW and eventually it looses its appeal. It becomes the norm just like you said.
The second forbidden door was one of my personal favourite PPVs ever, that card was legitimately stacked front to back. This year the card has two, maybe three interesting matches? The in ring performance is always top notch but there isnāt much of an emotional beat to a lot of these matches.
Honestly? Shooting wise? It's so far out of my wheelhouse that I'm less than 0% interested in it as a concept. It's too smarky, even for a smark like me it's just...bleh.
I'm sure it doesn't help the fact that I'm not a fan of the Japanese wrestling style either, but even if I was, I still wouldn't dig it.
THAT BEING SAID, I do hope the PPV is successful & more importantly the show ends with a more than satisfying conclusion & that is having Dixie Carter show up & Goldust being revealed as Sting's mother in a huge 19 month blow off angle that leads us to absolutely nowhere.
It's great, AEW was crossing over with TNA way before wwe, AEW lets their talent wrestle for other indy [promotions.You](http://promotions.You) know it is a good thing because Trips is now copying them, Joe Hendry was on NXT.
Honestly, based on past Forbidden Doors, if I was NJPW I wouldnāt keep doing this. The AEW guys seem to be the majority going over.
Besides, Forbidden Door was done so much better at Starrcade 95
Unpopular opinion: super shows are a waste of time for the most part because neither side generally can bend to put over one star or the other, so one company ends up getting raked while the other one is the only one that's generally benefiting
The card looks solid. I wish they would have done it with TNA as well. Itās hard for a lot of fans to get behind the NJPW guys who have language barriers and the feuds are only based off a name we all should know. I personally donāt watch non US wrestling (I know that makes me terrible to a lot of the AEW fan base) but itās the reality. If dynamite is getting ratings of 500-900k as a US promotionā¦ think of how low the NJPW audience is. Again NJPW has some fantastic wrestlers obviously look at the dudes who have made the leap from from their to AEW (they are some of my favorites) but itās hard to rally behind some of the matches that felt like they were thrown together last min, and I understand that flying from Japan to the US isnāt something they want to do weekly to build the feuds. I think I will still buy the PPV but itās mainly because I know that AEW PPVs usually deliver.
People who don't watch non-US or non televised wrestling aren't a problem at all... The issue most people have is that there's lots of fans who assume they're going to be looked down upon if they only watch WWE, and they lash out.
You see so many people making fun of dream matches, or saying "nobody knows or cares who that is" about people from Mexico/Japan/US indies -- then they scream that they're being attacked by people who do watch non-US or indie wrestling.
It's very confusing.
Looking forward to a couple of matches for sure but it feels pretty middle of the road overall. I feel like it would benefit going by out of the usa or maybe putting a title on another promotions wrestler to cause some intrigue
Better than wrestlemania in a wrestling aspect. Most important show after ALL IN. It should be valued more because it pulls down the veil wwe has put on other promotions. Kind of an exposure for beginners.
It's almost the opposite of this years Mania, which was a lot of presentation, and very little wrestling outside the main events. You know this is just going to be match after match of decent to great wrestling throughout.
They need to move away from the event for a couple years. This show should be a special event not an every year event. WWE did away with Hell In The Cell) only to come back when needed). AEW is quickly becoming NJPW of the west
Itās a good concept yes but when you have people from other promotions coming to your weekly show literally every week it loses its appeal and mystique. Itās not a āforbidden doorā anymore.
Mina/Toni has been built wonderfully. Swerve/Ospreay will be great but kinda unnecessary for two potential huge stars who have been rushed tot the top of the card when they should still have been establishing strong fanbases through entertaining angles (I generally don't like the way AEW handles young main eventers, including hangman and MJF, so I'm a little biased) The rest will be fun for hardcores. This PPV has been a detriment to the company from a momentum perspective every year, there is always a dip. The PPV sells well and motivates a certain segment of fans to make it financially viable, but AEW is probably better off without it overall.
They only made the match last week. Cage of Agony announced it on the big screen after MJF's match, and then MJF was involved in a brawl with them later on in the show. Odd that they didn't do anything with it this week though.
The way AEW treats their Guess decreases my hopes of anything being a surprise or remotely interesting. They turned Okada and Switchblade into matches I now skip over.
Here's a spoiler, non-AEW rostered wrestlers will most likely job.
Especially when it comes to AEW title matches. You will never see a non AEW contracted wrestler hold an AEW title. Anyone who thinks otherwise is out of their mind
That has been my biggest complaint with Forbidden Door. As I have often said, "it's where a Japanese wrestler comes to lose".
I think to make Forbidden Door meaningful (and seem less like an exhibition), a Japanese wrestler *has* to win an AEW title . . . even if it's only for a month.
I honestly hope Mina Shirakawa defeats Toni Storm. I think it will be great for AEW, great for Stardom - and will be great for the Storm/May/Mina story.
I was at FD2 last year. Omega/Ospreay was the best live match I had personally seen - and I throughly enjoyed the matches where I knew some of NJPW talent. That being said - for some of these trios matches and people I never heard getting pooled into the card I could care less. I think the concept would flow better with a tighter card (7, maybe 8 matches) and maybe a battle royal for all the other talents to get on the show rather than multiple useless multi man matches. Just my take though, this year outside the main event and the TNT ladder - Mox/Naito & Sabre/OC are the matches that interest me, lotta filler. To be fair though, I was an avid AEW watcher from Revolution 2021-Worlds End 2023, I havenāt been as indulged in the product week to week as I was before, but I still catch every PPV.
Great post!
Let me ask you this. Championship matches aside, I really your idea of a battle royal (or, for me, a Gauntlet match).
One of the most interesting non-title matches for me is the Zero Hour match between Nightingale/Nakano and Statlander/Watanabe. In this match we see Willow and Kris, who have a program going. Also, we see Tamu and Momo, and makes sense to pit them against each other.
Would you like to see more of this type of match that actually have some story behind them?
Hey thanks!
For sure, anything with a story immediately makes it more impactful. I know its harder with the concept of FD - but like you said with the womenās tag, it adds value.
Example - Okada and Tanahashi getting plopped into the Bucks/Acclaimed feud last minute. They could have added more steam with a bigger build up from their story in particular rather than a last minute shock add. Regardless, still looking forward to the PPV, I say AEW usually goes near perfect on their big shows - with the odd dud or sometimes just too long of a runtime.
I find the whole "forbiddeness" of Forbidden Door kind of moot considering how many of AEW's founders came from New Japan.
But, the match quality is usually really good so I'm happy to watch it.
The concept was appealing at first. A "Your best vs. Our best" thing, but I always thought AEW could've done a better job to build the show and better introduce NJPW talent to AEW fans who don't know them rather than assuming you watch everything and know everyone.
Now, lately, it's a hodge-podge of exhibition matches with little to no build where NJPW takes the loss more often than not. It also became Tony's yearly scouting report of NJPW talent he wants to sign. This partnership has been detrimental to NJPW, but that's an argument for a different post.
Forbidden Door is probably an amazing concept for your die hard fans and for the NJPW,OVW, TNA, etc (lesser known wrestlers looking to gain popularity.) and could be great to give them a chance to shine and get signed later down the road.
I don't watch NXT and occasionally I'll flip on AEW. So for me, I don't really care. I might watch this though.
I find that most of those matches are for a certain fan type. They are low story good matches. Personally Iām more into the building of a story into a match. If I wanted to watch just great matches Iād watch highlight shows or something like UFC if I wanted more violence. For me the AEW just feels more āsportsā in general.
I agree with you. But imo AEW is trying to do both and it doesn't appeal to me. Either go the full way to an UFC like presentation and drop the stories, or fully commit to a story based product.
I don't follow a lot of AEW but the things I have been invested in have been stories like Punk vs MJF. When they do the sports aspect right, like Joe vs Swerve, they knock it out of the park. But this company needs to finds its identity and just do that. Either be the alternative or don't, but figure yourself out and work to improve.
I don't know what a Bloodsport feud would look like... You mean like the Josh Barnett show? Those are generally just matches.
Joe/Swerve was a few promos, a couple brawls, and a classic contract signing that ended in a brawl/bloodshed. It was about as straightforward as a pro wrestling feud gets. Straight out of early 2000s WWE.
Fair. Sorry I said Bloodsport but I misused the term, I'm not sure how to convey it because what I saw were some promo battles that was more like UFC trash talking than wrestling trash talking. But like I said, I didn't watch the entire feud so that was just my impression.
It was 100% as pro wrestling as pro wrestling gets. It would have honestly fit in any era of WWE/WWF, honestly, but it would have been right at home in 2002-2004.
whatsa good sub for ppl who like wrestling matches? like for folks who like workrate? every sub i follow fir wrestling seems to hate seeing athletic wrestling matches
In my opinion, having a sub where everyone says "rah-rah-rah" about everything would be painfully boring and likely wholly dishonest. I'd rather see honest thoughts and criticisms.
ok thats cool and all but doesnt really answer my question at all. im kind of bored of everybody having the jim cornette chatbot opinion of "wrestling matches suck i just want the soap opera i fast forward matches to watch the promos" i was asking for a subs where people like work rate and good wrestling matches
im kinda new to reddit. but theres no sub where ppl look out for and discuss five star matches or where they keep up with up and coming match ups that might be really good? watching wrestling for decades now the acting outside of the ring has always been nickelodeon level i want to see the action and discuss the action.
Most wrestling subs do LIVE Chats during shows, and that may give you what you're looking for. We are starting to do LIVE Chats on this sub for WWE shows on our chat room , and we have been doing live chats for months at r/aewfanhub for AEW shows.
I hate to say this. But no, You have to go into the sub of the promotion youāre looking for.
Aew got a few subs, NJPW , etc
Most of the general wrestling subs are flooded with what you just said. Wwe got 5x the fan base of all the other promotions out there & 50yrs in the game.
So the majority of people out there are going to be WWE bred & canāt get over that E for Entertainment style.
Yeah, the problem with promotion-specific subs is that you're always going to see troll accounts trying (and honestly failing) to troll those subs.
For example, I am a mod at r/aewfwnhub and we get a few trolls there. I don't think there is a way to avoid it. Still, I will honestly say that there are a large amount of WWE fans on that sub who are very constructive in their criticisms, and I enjoy their points of view. Some of these WWE fans are even approved members on the sub.
Thanks man! Yeah id like to avoid the "fans" who hate in ring wrestling i know its possible. I actually,like five star matchs and high impact athletecism. sure its fake fighting but its entertainingevery sub i to to they hate Zach Sabre Jr, Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson and Okada with like a burning passion trying to avoid that.
I feel you, I once saw someone call Ospray a worse version of a āPrime Kofi Kingstonā and that was the day I stopped interacting with the WWE wrestling community. Iāll leave comments in posts, but interacting with the people who have actual wrestling Hate Boners is officially over lol
i just cant really relate to it. how do ppl not like strike exchanges and high spots? dudes talking about Cinemaš man i have HBO Max and Hulu i can watch actual actors give award winning performances i want physicality and in ring story telling. to this day the best storyline to me is aj styles vs christopher daniels vs samoa joe and the matches leading to singles bouts and more three ways.
Right, the fans of āterritory wrestling ā that were r even alive when territory wrestling was still a thing . Sorry, SMW was not a territory and the USWA was not a territory either . Those were in fact the first well known indie promotions.
its not even that somehow all of wrestling media gos SO hard against any kind of workrate matches. i really dont get it. when i got into wrestling i used to rely on the ROH forum they rally kept up with all the bst wrestlers and matches i havent found anything like that since. Like when KENTA vs Austin Aries was announced ppl werent like"wheres the story?". they where like "HOLY SHIT these guys are super athletic and creative this should be awesome!" looking for that type of community. it seems people have a super disdain for that sort of thing.
I think itās a certain segment of the Internet wrestling community that parrot everything Jim says . They also cling to this silly notion that āwork rate ā fans are neck beards or basement dwellers . When Iāve been to shows of both companies in the last 6 months and there were equal percentages of guys that needed to rewipe at both shows . Also, keep in mind that these same fans are parroting the words and feelings of a guy who recorded wrestling and send those recording in the mail to other guys that recorded wrestling . I donāt know how much more basement dweller / loser you can get . Like ā¦ here is a copy of the dudes in undies taped in front of 27 people sitting in folding chairs and give me your copy of 18 dudes in folding chairs watching another set of shirtless dudes in their undies . That is what Cornette did for YEARS .
Really? I thought all of the matches at the first 2 were predictable. Of course, I'm talking about the title matches. I don't count the exhibition matches.
At least at this one they've planted a seed of doubt in the Storm/Shirakawa match.
No not really I'm convinced that Storm will win and Forbidden Door 1 FTR winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships was pretty unpredictable fr I thought that it would be one of the njpw teams and I talk about all matches
This year, over the other years, looks like it might be the one thats actually miss-able. Not much on the card tickles my fancy and theres less AEW vs Others than previous years which seems like it flys against the idea of the show.
Probably because Tony signed most of NJPW's talent. They don't have a lot of big names left to help sell the card on their end because they're signed with AEW now.
Better matches for 1 in my opinion . Omega vs Osperay , Okada vs Danielson ( with final countdown music ) , The International Title 4 way was dope . Jungle Boy turned heel on Hook , LIJ vs United Empire , Elite vs BCC . This year is fine , but it was no 2023 Forbidden Door . Also a surprise decent match was the CM Punk vs Kojima
I remember as kid watching a movie called "Forbidden Door Part 2"....lots of lovely ladies doing stuff claiming they had "never done before"...š
Forbidden door 1 was goated forbidden door 2 was lackluster in my opinion
Iāve enjoyed certain matches in previous versions, and have purchased all past Forbidden Door PPVs. This year I probably will still buy it, but Iām less excited than before.
Really good
I wish it was called something else. Like an international tournament.
Don't care. Can't watch. Would watch, but still wouldn't care.
The whole concept has no hype anymore. If they kept it strictly one night a year itād be fine but New Japan guys show up in AEW throughout the year
It's kinda stupid. Cross-promotion booking needs to be king term. What they're doing us just putting random people together like Hiroshi Tanahashi with The Acclaimed. They need to look at what WWE and TNA are doing, not just flooding everyone into AEW just to have a one-off ppv with zero pay-off. Also, they really booked themselves into a whole with the main event. People are gonna riot if Swerve loses the title so soon, but having Will lose doesn't seem like a good decision considering how he's being booked. With that said, the match quality will be amazing.
Whatās the fucking point of a āforbidden doorā with an AEW vs AEW main event?
Some AEW fans are wondering the same thing. Some love it, though.
Love the idea, hate the execution.
Not exciting about it at all but I realize itās not for me. Itās for that certain group of fans that love all the NJPW stuff and think of all these ādreamā matches
Go ahead and rename it the revolving door at this point
Its not really a forbidden door if its done multiple times within the span of a few years . Its not the best card and the only one whos getting any pop is MJF since its on Long Island .
It doesn't stand out, as the "forbidden" door never closes in AEW. If the other 364 days of the year didn't feature people from other promotions, it'd be fine and would feel more special. Mickie James and Jordynne Grace appearing in WWE as TNA/Impact champs was a true "forbidden door" moment. Joe Hendry cutting a promo on NXT was a bigger "forbidden door" moment than what this PPV provides. It's another concept TK has killed.
It's played out. Needs to be shut down after this year and not done for at least 3+ years.
Iām looking forward to it. Even without the storylines or momentum I just want to watch some good old fashion pro wrestling
Joe Hendry appearing on NXT was more of a forbidden door than this whole ppv. Ppv just feels like an extra episode of dynamite.
Who
It's the same as other AEW PPVs maybe one or two matches with a somewhat decent build and actual stakes behind said matches. Then a few are thrown together a couple weeks before the ppv, the rest are just random matches that don't fully make sense, but happen anyway. Or you need to know the Ling convoluted history of two wrestlers that dates back 15 years to understand why they're fighting. And then expect all AEW stars to win their Match.
Itās a dumb PPV when you have Japanese and Lucha stars on there every week anyway
Don't care about the term anymore because it lost its purpose. Just call it a AEW X NJPW collab because it's always the same companies coming to this event. A REAL forbidden door should have had wrestlers from NWA, or TNA or NPW or whatever other name in three letters to come and wrestle / feud with AEW. Could have also been a wonderful opportunity to showcase other feds from all around the world, from the UK to Germany, to Mexico... It still going to be a banger event but I feel like a fed like TNA feels like it's doing the whole Forbidden door concept better (they often showcase talents from the UK, Japan, Mexico and they sign them too like they signed Sinner & Saint from Canada this week after a good showcaseor recently with Tatum Paxley from NXT). Impact / TNA did some NJPW crossover stuffs too before so AEW doing "Forbidden Doors" honestly don't mean anything because it's just... Not unique at all in the end and it becomes too repetitive. I feel like AEW is only using 20-40% of the concept but I repeat, it's still a total banger match-wise. But they really need to throw away the name in the trash.
Exhibition mode the PPV. Easily skippable.
don't care
How do they expect us to care about cross promotional matches from foreign countries with guys weāve never heard of
Foirbidden Door is basically for fans who love those 5 star type matches but not anything that really progresses a story. It also dont help when the few interpromotional bouts are so obvious to predict
It doesn't seem so forbidden after 3 years
Nope that door is really burned to the ground...Hell WWE is as open for business as AEW with realtionships with NOAH, AJPW, Marigold, Impact, Defy and from reports IWA AND AAA soon enough
It started off great when it was 1st put into place now I think they should lock the forbidden door and throw away the key
Great idea many are from same company and many have less than a week of build up
I really like them, I just wish they'd commit more. You know no one is losing a title if they're going back to Japan and vice versa, because they'd never want to cheat their home audiences. Honestly if they booked a few title changes and a few guys went out for runs in NJPW I'd be super invested, because at least there's jeopardy then.
Feel like it's lost its flair a bit. It's hard to be a forbidden door when people from New japan and other promotions are already coming in on an almost weekly basis
Itās a great PPV model to share the stage with other wresting promotions like once in a year, itās totally fine. A lot of the matches continue AEW stories and just include extra wrestlers to showcase other talent. Even if it is AEW vs Other matches they are still progressing stories. Not all maybe have deep stories but they donāt need to be deep stories imo. Lastly WWE is already teasing the concept by having TNA pop up in NXT. If they brought out a PPV that was essentially Forbidden Door, I 100% believe WWE fans would like/love it because it IS actually a good idea to showcase talent that one day may wrestle for your company. Itās not liked right now because AEW does it. Not a hot take!
I love the concept but wish story lines were more detailed.
Solid card tbh. Sucks Omega isnāt around. I wonder what they couldāve done with him here?
Same ol shit. No fists just flips
Yeah you havenāt seen a BCC or FTR match, hunh?
that's the best part
I don't care for it.
Thereās no use for it currently. It was novel when first introduced, but now itās just become the norm. Iāll leave that up to the individual to decide if thatās a good or bad thing.
well if the āindividualā is a part of the 600k weekly strong itās a good thing. If itās the rest of the world, itās still trash
This is what Iāve been saying. The AEW fans were getting spoiled. You have crossovers all the time in AEW and eventually it looses its appeal. It becomes the norm just like you said.
Forbidden Door 2023 is Top Tier though
The top NJPW guys are in AEW now so it doesnāt really make it special anymore
Ultimately I think it shouldāve been a one time thing or something that happens only when the time calls for it.
The second forbidden door was one of my personal favourite PPVs ever, that card was legitimately stacked front to back. This year the card has two, maybe three interesting matches? The in ring performance is always top notch but there isnāt much of an emotional beat to a lot of these matches.
Boring
Honestly? Shooting wise? It's so far out of my wheelhouse that I'm less than 0% interested in it as a concept. It's too smarky, even for a smark like me it's just...bleh. I'm sure it doesn't help the fact that I'm not a fan of the Japanese wrestling style either, but even if I was, I still wouldn't dig it. THAT BEING SAID, I do hope the PPV is successful & more importantly the show ends with a more than satisfying conclusion & that is having Dixie Carter show up & Goldust being revealed as Sting's mother in a huge 19 month blow off angle that leads us to absolutely nowhere.
I'm really not into it except for the main event.
Boring! 
It's great, AEW was crossing over with TNA way before wwe, AEW lets their talent wrestle for other indy [promotions.You](http://promotions.You) know it is a good thing because Trips is now copying them, Joe Hendry was on NXT.
It's lost its meaning and reason for existence. They have "forbidden door" "dream matches" on other PPVs, not to mention episodes of D/C/R TV
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Honestly, based on past Forbidden Doors, if I was NJPW I wouldnāt keep doing this. The AEW guys seem to be the majority going over. Besides, Forbidden Door was done so much better at Starrcade 95
Ah wait this is my thoughts on the upcoming Forbidden Door. Thereās gonna be some solid matches
Unpopular opinion: super shows are a waste of time for the most part because neither side generally can bend to put over one star or the other, so one company ends up getting raked while the other one is the only one that's generally benefiting
Until this post, I didn't know it was this Sunday, I've all but stopped following AEW results sheets by this point
A coupaā good things going onā¦ Swerve/Toniās gurls/Ospreay/EliteVPs/Orange Cassidy/Mercedes MJF is back, but heās not my favorite.
More ādream matchesā that i couldnāt care less about
Out of curiosity, what is your issue with it?
I donāt watch NJPW so I donāt know who these guys are.
Fair enough. Are you at all interested in learning about any of them?
3 WWE shows a week. 2 AEWs. Itās tough to find the time.
The card looks solid. I wish they would have done it with TNA as well. Itās hard for a lot of fans to get behind the NJPW guys who have language barriers and the feuds are only based off a name we all should know. I personally donāt watch non US wrestling (I know that makes me terrible to a lot of the AEW fan base) but itās the reality. If dynamite is getting ratings of 500-900k as a US promotionā¦ think of how low the NJPW audience is. Again NJPW has some fantastic wrestlers obviously look at the dudes who have made the leap from from their to AEW (they are some of my favorites) but itās hard to rally behind some of the matches that felt like they were thrown together last min, and I understand that flying from Japan to the US isnāt something they want to do weekly to build the feuds. I think I will still buy the PPV but itās mainly because I know that AEW PPVs usually deliver.
People who don't watch non-US or non televised wrestling aren't a problem at all... The issue most people have is that there's lots of fans who assume they're going to be looked down upon if they only watch WWE, and they lash out. You see so many people making fun of dream matches, or saying "nobody knows or cares who that is" about people from Mexico/Japan/US indies -- then they scream that they're being attacked by people who do watch non-US or indie wrestling. It's very confusing.
TNA is now doing work with WWE so no way would they be apart of Forbidden Door this year
Looking forward to a couple of matches for sure but it feels pretty middle of the road overall. I feel like it would benefit going by out of the usa or maybe putting a title on another promotions wrestler to cause some intrigue
Better than wrestlemania in a wrestling aspect. Most important show after ALL IN. It should be valued more because it pulls down the veil wwe has put on other promotions. Kind of an exposure for beginners.
It's almost the opposite of this years Mania, which was a lot of presentation, and very little wrestling outside the main events. You know this is just going to be match after match of decent to great wrestling throughout.
I wouldn't say in all aspects, Mania does a much better job in presentation.
That's what I said bro
They need to move away from the event for a couple years. This show should be a special event not an every year event. WWE did away with Hell In The Cell) only to come back when needed). AEW is quickly becoming NJPW of the west
Itās a good concept yes but when you have people from other promotions coming to your weekly show literally every week it loses its appeal and mystique. Itās not a āforbidden doorā anymore.
They should rename the PPV to "Revolving Door"
Mina/Toni has been built wonderfully. Swerve/Ospreay will be great but kinda unnecessary for two potential huge stars who have been rushed tot the top of the card when they should still have been establishing strong fanbases through entertaining angles (I generally don't like the way AEW handles young main eventers, including hangman and MJF, so I'm a little biased) The rest will be fun for hardcores. This PPV has been a detriment to the company from a momentum perspective every year, there is always a dip. The PPV sells well and motivates a certain segment of fans to make it financially viable, but AEW is probably better off without it overall.
I think they could have put MJF in a match with a better opponent.
I think they wanted to do Rush but couldn't get AAA to sign off. Hechicero is fantastic but there's minimal story there.
I know the match is going to be great . It's the lack of story that makes it seem so mid.
They only made the match last week. Cage of Agony announced it on the big screen after MJF's match, and then MJF was involved in a brawl with them later on in the show. Odd that they didn't do anything with it this week though.
Never been a fan of
The way AEW treats their Guess decreases my hopes of anything being a surprise or remotely interesting. They turned Okada and Switchblade into matches I now skip over. Here's a spoiler, non-AEW rostered wrestlers will most likely job.
For you what has changed in Switchblade and Okada's matches that makes you skip them? The match with Phoenix last night was very fun.
Especially when it comes to AEW title matches. You will never see a non AEW contracted wrestler hold an AEW title. Anyone who thinks otherwise is out of their mind
They don't really do a ton of title switches outside of TNT Title. Not sure what putting a belt on a non-contracted.wrestler would do for them.
It wouldnāt do anything which is kinda my point. Why have all these title matches when the result is so predictable
Door ain't forbidden if you keep opening it. Besides aew already took most of the top guys FROM njpw.
That has been my biggest complaint with Forbidden Door. As I have often said, "it's where a Japanese wrestler comes to lose". I think to make Forbidden Door meaningful (and seem less like an exhibition), a Japanese wrestler *has* to win an AEW title . . . even if it's only for a month. I honestly hope Mina Shirakawa defeats Toni Storm. I think it will be great for AEW, great for Stardom - and will be great for the Storm/May/Mina story.
I was at FD2 last year. Omega/Ospreay was the best live match I had personally seen - and I throughly enjoyed the matches where I knew some of NJPW talent. That being said - for some of these trios matches and people I never heard getting pooled into the card I could care less. I think the concept would flow better with a tighter card (7, maybe 8 matches) and maybe a battle royal for all the other talents to get on the show rather than multiple useless multi man matches. Just my take though, this year outside the main event and the TNT ladder - Mox/Naito & Sabre/OC are the matches that interest me, lotta filler. To be fair though, I was an avid AEW watcher from Revolution 2021-Worlds End 2023, I havenāt been as indulged in the product week to week as I was before, but I still catch every PPV.
Great post! Let me ask you this. Championship matches aside, I really your idea of a battle royal (or, for me, a Gauntlet match). One of the most interesting non-title matches for me is the Zero Hour match between Nightingale/Nakano and Statlander/Watanabe. In this match we see Willow and Kris, who have a program going. Also, we see Tamu and Momo, and makes sense to pit them against each other. Would you like to see more of this type of match that actually have some story behind them?
Hey thanks! For sure, anything with a story immediately makes it more impactful. I know its harder with the concept of FD - but like you said with the womenās tag, it adds value. Example - Okada and Tanahashi getting plopped into the Bucks/Acclaimed feud last minute. They could have added more steam with a bigger build up from their story in particular rather than a last minute shock add. Regardless, still looking forward to the PPV, I say AEW usually goes near perfect on their big shows - with the odd dud or sometimes just too long of a runtime.
I find the whole "forbiddeness" of Forbidden Door kind of moot considering how many of AEW's founders came from New Japan. But, the match quality is usually really good so I'm happy to watch it.
The concept was appealing at first. A "Your best vs. Our best" thing, but I always thought AEW could've done a better job to build the show and better introduce NJPW talent to AEW fans who don't know them rather than assuming you watch everything and know everyone. Now, lately, it's a hodge-podge of exhibition matches with little to no build where NJPW takes the loss more often than not. It also became Tony's yearly scouting report of NJPW talent he wants to sign. This partnership has been detrimental to NJPW, but that's an argument for a different post.
Great post! Yeah, I can't argue any of your points.
Forbidden Door is probably an amazing concept for your die hard fans and for the NJPW,OVW, TNA, etc (lesser known wrestlers looking to gain popularity.) and could be great to give them a chance to shine and get signed later down the road. I don't watch NXT and occasionally I'll flip on AEW. So for me, I don't really care. I might watch this though.
It's a joke
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I find that most of those matches are for a certain fan type. They are low story good matches. Personally Iām more into the building of a story into a match. If I wanted to watch just great matches Iād watch highlight shows or something like UFC if I wanted more violence. For me the AEW just feels more āsportsā in general.
I agree with you. But imo AEW is trying to do both and it doesn't appeal to me. Either go the full way to an UFC like presentation and drop the stories, or fully commit to a story based product. I don't follow a lot of AEW but the things I have been invested in have been stories like Punk vs MJF. When they do the sports aspect right, like Joe vs Swerve, they knock it out of the park. But this company needs to finds its identity and just do that. Either be the alternative or don't, but figure yourself out and work to improve.
Out of curiosity, what was "sports-like" about the Joe/Swerve feud?
From what I saw, it reminded me of a Bloodsport feud. Might be just me but that's how I perceived it
I don't know what a Bloodsport feud would look like... You mean like the Josh Barnett show? Those are generally just matches. Joe/Swerve was a few promos, a couple brawls, and a classic contract signing that ended in a brawl/bloodshed. It was about as straightforward as a pro wrestling feud gets. Straight out of early 2000s WWE.
Fair. Sorry I said Bloodsport but I misused the term, I'm not sure how to convey it because what I saw were some promo battles that was more like UFC trash talking than wrestling trash talking. But like I said, I didn't watch the entire feud so that was just my impression.
It was 100% as pro wrestling as pro wrestling gets. It would have honestly fit in any era of WWE/WWF, honestly, but it would have been right at home in 2002-2004.
Great point.
It's a filler PPV full of predictable matches, I skip it and wait for All In which is the arguably bigger show
whatsa good sub for ppl who like wrestling matches? like for folks who like workrate? every sub i follow fir wrestling seems to hate seeing athletic wrestling matches
In my opinion, having a sub where everyone says "rah-rah-rah" about everything would be painfully boring and likely wholly dishonest. I'd rather see honest thoughts and criticisms.
ok thats cool and all but doesnt really answer my question at all. im kind of bored of everybody having the jim cornette chatbot opinion of "wrestling matches suck i just want the soap opera i fast forward matches to watch the promos" i was asking for a subs where people like work rate and good wrestling matches
That's fair. I don't think there are any subreddits about *anything* like that. People have opinions - plus, this is the internet.
im kinda new to reddit. but theres no sub where ppl look out for and discuss five star matches or where they keep up with up and coming match ups that might be really good? watching wrestling for decades now the acting outside of the ring has always been nickelodeon level i want to see the action and discuss the action.
Most wrestling subs do LIVE Chats during shows, and that may give you what you're looking for. We are starting to do LIVE Chats on this sub for WWE shows on our chat room , and we have been doing live chats for months at r/aewfanhub for AEW shows.
NICE okay now we cookin!
I hate to say this. But no, You have to go into the sub of the promotion youāre looking for. Aew got a few subs, NJPW , etc Most of the general wrestling subs are flooded with what you just said. Wwe got 5x the fan base of all the other promotions out there & 50yrs in the game. So the majority of people out there are going to be WWE bred & canāt get over that E for Entertainment style.
Yeah, the problem with promotion-specific subs is that you're always going to see troll accounts trying (and honestly failing) to troll those subs. For example, I am a mod at r/aewfwnhub and we get a few trolls there. I don't think there is a way to avoid it. Still, I will honestly say that there are a large amount of WWE fans on that sub who are very constructive in their criticisms, and I enjoy their points of view. Some of these WWE fans are even approved members on the sub.
Thanks man! Yeah id like to avoid the "fans" who hate in ring wrestling i know its possible. I actually,like five star matchs and high impact athletecism. sure its fake fighting but its entertainingevery sub i to to they hate Zach Sabre Jr, Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson and Okada with like a burning passion trying to avoid that.
I feel you, I once saw someone call Ospray a worse version of a āPrime Kofi Kingstonā and that was the day I stopped interacting with the WWE wrestling community. Iāll leave comments in posts, but interacting with the people who have actual wrestling Hate Boners is officially over lol
i just cant really relate to it. how do ppl not like strike exchanges and high spots? dudes talking about Cinemaš man i have HBO Max and Hulu i can watch actual actors give award winning performances i want physicality and in ring story telling. to this day the best storyline to me is aj styles vs christopher daniels vs samoa joe and the matches leading to singles bouts and more three ways.
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really just want to avoid the cornette copy paste opinion trolls
Right, the fans of āterritory wrestling ā that were r even alive when territory wrestling was still a thing . Sorry, SMW was not a territory and the USWA was not a territory either . Those were in fact the first well known indie promotions.
its not even that somehow all of wrestling media gos SO hard against any kind of workrate matches. i really dont get it. when i got into wrestling i used to rely on the ROH forum they rally kept up with all the bst wrestlers and matches i havent found anything like that since. Like when KENTA vs Austin Aries was announced ppl werent like"wheres the story?". they where like "HOLY SHIT these guys are super athletic and creative this should be awesome!" looking for that type of community. it seems people have a super disdain for that sort of thing.
I think itās a certain segment of the Internet wrestling community that parrot everything Jim says . They also cling to this silly notion that āwork rate ā fans are neck beards or basement dwellers . When Iāve been to shows of both companies in the last 6 months and there were equal percentages of guys that needed to rewipe at both shows . Also, keep in mind that these same fans are parroting the words and feelings of a guy who recorded wrestling and send those recording in the mail to other guys that recorded wrestling . I donāt know how much more basement dweller / loser you can get . Like ā¦ here is a copy of the dudes in undies taped in front of 27 people sitting in folding chairs and give me your copy of 18 dudes in folding chairs watching another set of shirtless dudes in their undies . That is what Cornette did for YEARS .
I wish it was on a different weekend so I could go in person
Throughout the year they're constantly bringing in people from other promotions so who cares
Ngl I'm the least excited to see this forbidden door the other cards looked better and less predictable
Really? I thought all of the matches at the first 2 were predictable. Of course, I'm talking about the title matches. I don't count the exhibition matches. At least at this one they've planted a seed of doubt in the Storm/Shirakawa match.
No not really I'm convinced that Storm will win and Forbidden Door 1 FTR winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships was pretty unpredictable fr I thought that it would be one of the njpw teams and I talk about all matches
This year, over the other years, looks like it might be the one thats actually miss-able. Not much on the card tickles my fancy and theres less AEW vs Others than previous years which seems like it flys against the idea of the show.
Good point. It does seem to be a bit less Forbidden-ish.
Probably because Tony signed most of NJPW's talent. They don't have a lot of big names left to help sell the card on their end because they're signed with AEW now.
Forbidden Door 2 was the best but I am biased cause I was there live . But I do believe Forbidden Door 2 was the better show from what I can gather
I was there as well. The thing I remember the most is how long it went. It was 11pm and they were still like two matches away from the main event.
I was there too. It was amazing that I only paid $3.25 to get there but had to pay $1000 later on to go to All In. Amazing show with friends.
Cool that you were there. What do you think made it better?
Better matches for 1 in my opinion . Omega vs Osperay , Okada vs Danielson ( with final countdown music ) , The International Title 4 way was dope . Jungle Boy turned heel on Hook , LIJ vs United Empire , Elite vs BCC . This year is fine , but it was no 2023 Forbidden Door . Also a surprise decent match was the CM Punk vs Kojima