AEW Forbidden Door 2026 Discussion

[Hannibal Scorch]

@WyattSheepMask Pre show starts about 5pm, main show at 6pm. I believe curfew is 10.30. Both All In’s were done by then.

[RedTwoster]

Lots of great wrestling on this show as you’d expect, but at times it felt like a bottle episode. There was very little on this show that felt consequential, even though there were clearly consequences to some of the matches. Every result you expected to happen did, and that hurt the show for me in spite of the excellent ring work.

They need to find a hot angle to carry them forward much as they did with Hangman’s run to the title last year. 

Mone/World was a strange match in that it was excellent, but also exposed how green Maya is once again, with many of her spots looking rough and clunky. Huge credit to Mercedes for pulling a match that strong out of her.

It was nice to see Jay White return, and he should be a useful addition to the upper card.

Thekla was tremendous once again and her match against Mercedes - assuming there’s not a title switch before then - should be fantastic. You look at the top of their female roster when everyone is fit - Mercedes, Willow, Storm, Thekla, Bayne, Shida, Statlander, Persephone, Athena and Kross - that’s a tremendous line-up and once again I’d highlight how insane it is that a women’s match is yet to close an AEW PPV.

The cage match was what it was, and I’m glad that they’re getting the Briscoe title shot out of the way quickly. Lio Rush was fun, but outside of that I found it hard to care. There’s only so much investment I can muster when the potential outcome is a Mark Briscoe title shot. If it were Eddie Kingston, Darby, Orange Cassidy, Takeshita or Andrade I might have felt differently, but such an epic match with a Briscoe title shot being on the line? It wasn’t for me. I’d have honestly preferred an MJF/Briscoe/Knight/Andrade four-way.

Omega/Sabre Jr was really good but it’s a shame that the build-up to that had been so mediocre. The fact they kept Sabre Jr away from the mic for the most part was really strange, given how good he can be. Given that he didn’t win anyway, why not give him a mission statement like wanting to be the first non-AEW wrestler to hold the World title or something like that; have him interact with MJF, dismiss Omega and taunt Ospreay. What they did made it feel a bit purposeless and I say that with it being a match I would really have been excited for on paper. The match was still excellent, but the feud felt underbaked.

Moxley/Bandido was tremendous, as was Ospreay/Swerve, as predictable as both matches were. I hope they’re planning something with the Death Riders - I’d seriously contemplate having Swerve take over from Moxley as their leader. If any act was to benefit from having a team of psychopaths at their disposal it would be him, and Swerve/Moxley would be a compelling feud, before he goes after new champion Ospreay. But heck, they need to do something. 

A very negative take on a show full of tremendous wrestling, but it’s mostly that I feel like everything could be so much better right now if they managed to nail down a few hot storylines.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I’ve been off sick from work today so was able to watch this. Five hours is just too long, and yes there were lots of good matches but I couldn’t tell you half the card by the time it was over. Until I read @RedTwoster’s post above I’d forgotten Omega vs Sabre had happened!

Of the stuff I remember, Moxley vs Bandido was great but didn’t have to be on the show. Really enjoyed PAC vs Umino, even with the bizarre backstory of Shota being the first Death Rider that they’ve never even mentioned until this week’s TV. (Almost as strange as them taking so long to crown a new TBS Champion, Willow’s ready to come back already! You could have let her keep it!)

Thekla is outstanding, didn’t think much of Starlight Kid, reminded me of Riho with her size and style, and I’ve never been a huge fan of Riho. Of the two women’s matches, much preferred Mercedes vs Maya. I thought the moments where it was a bit clumsy or off actually added to it a lot, made it feel less choreographed and more like a fight. 

Cage match was lots of silly fun. NES console and Lio Rush coveting the precious Dynamite Diamond ring my favourite bits.

Main event was an excellent match but even having taken breaks throughout today, I found my attention span was starting to wander. Winner was never in doubt, it’s gonna be fun at Wembley.

Edited June 29 by HarmonicGenerator
DC inspired entrances and costumes, it’s like wrestling is for nerds or something

[Chili]

Thekla is fucking ace. If she does face Mone at All In then by rights she should actually retain the belt. Who actually REALLY wants to see Mercedes Mone win the title and have a long title reign that would be exactly like the TBS reign only to eventually lose and then go away so she doesn't really lose any heat and rinse and repeat. Nope. Millennial Luna for the win thank you.

 

[LaGoosh]

Omega/Sabre Jnr was fine but also annoyed me. 

You have Sabre Jnr who is a master submission artist against a guy who is nearing the end of his career and has had loads of injuries including a gut issue that nearly killed him. Surely it's common sense to have the match be the dastardly heel breaks the old hero to pieces with evil submissions, slows it down, neutralises his high flying offense and grind him until he eventually valiantly fights through the pain for the heroic victory?

Instead they worked it as a stabdard back and forth match with Omega actually seeming to get the most offense in to the point that I wondered if Sabre Jnr was supposed to be the babyface. 

A very weirdly worked match and a missed opportunity to do something special and get babyface momentum behind Omega.

[The King Of Swing]

Fine with Thekla winning but winning clean and embarrassing both SLK and Taro Okada post match, was pretty shit.

Unless they are keeping the Thekla/Stardom feud going for a while longer, in which case ignore my whining. 

Good match though.

Maika looked good but I would have preferred an AEW/ROH wrestler getting the final spot in the TBS match.

Devine Dominion are fast becoming a highlight for me. Look the business and carry themselves like stars. 

Mone Vs. Maya was good but as pointed out, at times exposed just how green Maya still is. 

Osprey Vs. Swerve was tremendous. Wish they would wrap up the Death Riders business, though. 

Cage match was loads of fun once it got going and Andrade's face turn was pretty cool, as was Lio's cameo. 

Glad they are getting MJF Vs. Brisco out of the way quickly. 

Happy to see Jay White, back. 

Other stuff happened. 

Nothing bad on the show but nothing I'll ever go back to.

7/10. 

 

[Chili]

I figured we all knew Briscoe was getting the Title Match ASAP to get it out the way. I don't mind it because it's done and dusted. I'd rather with the time they have left and just coming off that Darby run to have a brief Briscoe feud than waste a short feud on Orange Cassidy, who if you ever give him that title shot, make something more of it. Though @RedTwosteridea of the four way they mentioned would have also been perfectly fine. 

I'm quite interested in what MJF's All In match is going to be, and when the fuck he's going to lose his hair, because he absolutely is at some point.

Oh additional, Okada running and yelping like a child seeing Lio Rush pop out the bag, lovely stuff. It's the little things with Okada, he's got such a good face of expressions.

Edited June 29 by Chili

[Statto]

I know wrestling can have shades of grey, but I just feel confused about if I'm supposed to feel happy about Will Ospreay using the presence of Jon Moxley (who was a mask-ripping dastardly heel a few hours ago) as inspiration to win the tournament.

The pattern for the last few months seems to me to have been that the Death Riders are face on TV but heel on PPV for some reason, but I guess we're even blurring those lines now. 

I had a (self-imposed, really) window of about 3 hrs to get watched what I wanted to so skipped a bunch of stuff. My overarching summary would be "predictable" - every single match had the result I expected. I was going to ask in the Dynamite thread a couple of weeks ago if Mark Davis was hurt again as Doyle made the team instead of him, but then it dawned that Doyle was taking the fall, and so he did. (Davis might well also be hurt/otherwise indisposed, I dunno).

Isn't Zack Sabre Jr infamous for giving his signature moves really long, incongrous names? Guess he'd run out of inspiration when he came up with "Zack Driver".

Edit: Oh yeah, the only Forbidden Door I'm really interested in ever opening again is bringing in the Japanese ring announcer once a year. The major highlight of these shows.

Edited June 29 by Statto
Sah-WUR-vuh Striker-LAND-UHHHHHHHH!

[pol_pot_rick]

I think I read somewhere that TK said Davis, along with a bunch of others (mostly Japanese and CMLL wrestlers) had Visa issues and that why he was off this show.

Edited June 29 by pol_pot_rick
cant spell

[The King of Old School]

10 hours ago, Statto said:

I know wrestling can have shades of grey, but I just feel confused about if I'm supposed to feel happy about Will Ospreay using the presence of Jon Moxley (who was a mask-ripping dastardly heel a few hours ago) as inspiration to win the tournament.

The pattern for the last few months seems to me to have been that the Death Riders are face on TV but heel on PPV for some reason, but I guess we're even blurring those lines now. 

I'm still hoping in the next week or two that Ospreay breaks away from the Death Riders, challenging Moxley at Redemption with something along the lines of" I can't move on the World Title at Wembley without beating you first" seeing as it was Moxley who "injured" him last year, and then also beat him on his first match back.

[Statto]

I think that'll probably be the PPV match, yeah - but they'll probably do it in a "appreciate all your help mate but I need to prove to myself I can beat you" we all respect each other way (then they'll try to do a heated bloodbath on the night, Ospreay will win and we'll all move on to Wembley).

I know the obvious thing isn't always the best thing, but the logical progression to me was the Death Riders swarming and trying to re-injure Ospreay's neck immediately after the match on Sunday, as a "I nearly gave you it all, but now I'm ripping it all away" storyline. Then they've got a reason to have a bloodbath in Canada.

[SoloJones]

Its a shame (for so many reasons) that they still don't highlight more of the women that they have on TV, because there's probably no chance of them capitalising on the reactions that Maya World was getting towards the end of that match. Star making performance, that at best will probably see her contend for the ROH Title on a show that nobody gives a shit about. Hope I'm wrong. She's definitely not the finished article, but if you wait until she is, the audience will have cooled.

[The King Of Swing]

There's also wrestlers on the main AEW roster, that could really help cover for Maya's shortcomings as she gains more experience. 

I'd rather watch a Maya World match, than anything involving Julia Hart. 

On the subject of the Triangle of Madness. Skye Blue's match with Maika, was probably her best effort that didn't involve plunder. 

[LaGoosh]

I've watched a few more matches but I really just couldn't be bothered with this show. Guessing by the lack of discussion it seems like not many other people were bothered either.

[Merzbow]

Am I missing something because I'm seeing a LOT of praise for the Maya v Mone match like it's a MOTY candidate, it was fine I guess but not even as good as the other women's match on the card? Is this a mix of Mone's weird fans being weird and people caught up in the emotion over Maya World?

It's cool either way, glad to see so many loved it but I'm sitting here not getting it at all. Maya will likely be a star though.

Edited July 1 by Merzbow