AEW Forbidden Door 2023 Results and Review

People are falling over themselves regarding the Forbidden Door PPV, with some people calling it a perfect event. I’ve yet to see anyone jeer at it, and it’s interesting to see what is to come for me as I watch and review it. This is my take on the results and review of Forbidden Door from 2023!

MJF defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi

MJF kept saying that he was going to roll through Tanahashi, and I was surprised that he couldn’t do i. Ok, I wasn’t surprised, but Tanahashi wouldn’t go down lightly. He took a beating a lot of the time though, and it was interesting to see MJF dissect the ACE for the most part. However, Tanahashi did get some offense in, but it wasn’t a simple open and shut case. Thanks to a distraction and a gold ring on the finger of MJF, the champion remained such with a win over Hiroshi Tanahashi. A good opening match, not great, but good overall if you ask me. Tanahashi had some good offense, but it was definitely MJF that shined here, as usual, the guy is a great heel.

Cm Punk defeated Satoshi Kojima

A solid chess match of pro wrestling overall. This was a brawl, a fight, and a wrestling match all thrown into one solid event. CM Punk was able to catch Kojima several times with lariats, and stop gaps, throwing in some interesting moves. This was a cerebral match, so there was focus on wearing down Kojima, relaxed and mental overall. Punk wrestling heel was good overall. Kojima turned things around at one point, and had Punk reeling several times. After some back and forth, it was Punk with the GTS that would put way Kojima in a hard fought battle.

Orange Cassidy defeated Daniel Garcia, Katsuyori Shibata, and Zack Sabre Jr. in the AEW International title

Orange Cassidy steals a victory in this one. There was a lot of back and forth, and a lot of wrestling, frenetically paced wrestling at that. Zack Sabre Jr. was impressive again, Garcia and Shibata threw down too, but it was Cassidy that was able to pull a victory. He pulled one out here, and it was an interesting match with a lot of great moments. I loved it, it was so entertaining, full of pure wrestling and reversals, great just great. I loved it, and it was the match of the night up to this point, and wow, just amazing fun match.

Sanada defeated Jack Perry

Sanada put on a clinic against Perry. Perry got a beat down, and while he did have a few moments, it was not the night for Perry to win. Senada put on one hell of a clinic in regards to some of his moves, and while Jack was able to counter here and there, it just wasn’t for him to get the victory, he needed something more punishing and Sanada just was too powerful. Quality wrestling match here, with a great deal of back and forth, until Sanada pinched in his submissions, and moves.

Post match Perry cheap shots Hook and leaves him laying on the floor.

The Elite (Adam Page, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson) and Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castanoli, Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta), Konosuke Takeshida and Shota Umino

An all out war of a match, with a lot of action. There was a little bit of wrestling for everyone, with brawling and all out moves left and right. You got something from everyone here, with superkicks, buckshot attempt, shooting star presses, ddts, and just a lot of brawling. The end came with an insane brain buster from Ishii to Wheeler Yuta. One hell of a match, fun overall, just fun overall. One of the best ten man tag matches you’re going to see, and it’s just a great match to see.

Toni Storm defeated Willow Nightingale in the AEW Women’s World Title Match

This was a fun match, with Nightingale getting a lot of action throughout. Storm did manage to bring things around, and there was some moments where you thought Nightingale was going to win this one, but nope, after a distracted ref and eye gauge, Storm pulled through with a nice piledriver, quick and easy, and boom, Storm wins the match. Nightingale was great here, but it was Storm that was a little smarter this time around.

Will Ospreay defeated Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title

Will Ospreay put on a clinic with Kenny Omega. Omega did everything in his power to take control and at times he had it, it was stalemated. Then after time and time again Will Ospreay reversed things, and Omega was not able to win the bigger picture. He just couldn’t overcome the onslaught that Will Ospreay threw down. He got busted open, he got beaten, bruised, and just lost his belt. This was one hell of a battle, and it really just showcases amazing things.

Darby Allin, Sting, Tetsuya Naito defeated Minoru Suzuki, Chris Jericho, and Sammy Guevara

The weakest of the matches from the night. This was ok for the most part, but just OK overall. There was a lot of back and forth, brawling, and a sick 630 into a table on sting from Guevara! But outside of that, this was a bland matchup with not a lot to write home about. It was ok, at best if you ask me.

Bryan Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada

If you were looking for a technical wrestling match, then you got it. These two men put on a clinic of what a technical wrestling match is all about. There were a variety of different moves, reversals, on going hits, and a great deal of transition overall. The match was hard hitting, technical, full of psychology and perhaps one of the best showcases of talent that you could expect from wrestling today. Okada tapped out to Danielson! One hell of a match, just amazing.

Overall Thoughts

Perhaps the best PPV show I’ve seen all year. This has been a good year for live events, and this was one of the best ones I’ve seen. Nearly 4 hours of the most impressive, and amazing shows. Danielson broke his arm in this match and still finished it. Much respect to him.

AEW Dynamite 6/14/23 Results and Review

Another night of Dynamite came and went. I was watching a movie so I didn’t see it live, but you better believe that I wasn’t going to miss the show that people on twitter kept spoiling for me. So let’s get into the action and see what’s up from Washington DC.

Adam Cole vs. MJF went to a time limit draw 30 minutes

A solid opener, a great deal of quality wrestling went down here. MJF is mega talented, and Adam Cole is no slouch. The two went back and forth with control, and power moves, not wasting a minute of things. This was methodically done, with focus on wrestling and counters. This wasn’t just brawling, mind you, it had a lot of different components, and went 30 minutes. It was a great opening option, and I was impressed with how they gave this one away for free on tv, and first thing on the program. This may very well may be the best match I’ve seen this week, great one. See it for yourself.

Sammy Guevara came out for an interview, then Darby Allin and Chris Jericho came out, and there was a little back and forth on the mic. This was a good exchange, and then Sting came out with a bat, and evened out the odds here. This was an interesting face off! First time Sting and Jericho stared down one another.

Darby Allin, Keith Lee, Orange Cassidy, and Sting defeated The Mogul Embassy

Another fun pro wrestling match. There was a lot of back and forth, wild moments, and some great reversals. Some fast paced action and great movement from all made this an instant classic. Fun back and forth, Darby, Keith, Orange, and Sting all got their moves in, including Sting’s Scorpion Death Drop for the ending. A great match overall, and some fun interactions throughout.

Wardlow defeated Jake Hager

Not a bad match here, a good back and forth, but Wardlow was not going to lose. Jack Hager did try to get in some good shots, but it was Wardlow that was impressive here. He took out Hager with two bombs, and an interesting array of moves. The guy can move, he’s good, and we’ll see him once again in action against Luchasaurus, as they came on the screen with a bloodied Arn Anderson. Way to continue the story!

Toni Storm defeated Skye Blue in the AEW Women’s Title Match

A fun women’s match on the show? Yeah, it was about 7 minutes, and while it wasn’t the most technically advanced match, it was fun to watch. Ruby Soho came into play at some points, but Toni Storm was able to muster up enough offense to beat Skye Blue overall. A Texas cloverleaf was the ending submission, and we had things move forward with another successful title defense.

The Elite defeated Blackpool Combat Club in a six man tag team match

This match was on fire, and all six men threw together some great moments. I was impressed how much brawling there was early on, then it moved into a more technical wrestling match. They kept pushing, and eventually got the crowd going crazy for everyone. The Elite would get the win after the BCC tried a bunch of different moves.

After the match Eddie Kingston came down an beat up the BCC.

Overall Thoughts

To be honest, this was a good beakdown of matches and fun overall. I thought the night had an enjoyable array of matches. The 30 minute draw was great, the women’s match delivered, and the other tag matches were fun romps as well. This was a good show, check it out.

AEW Double or Nothing 2023 Results and Review

Alright, enough was enough, I saw he memes and saw hat so many people were posting that the arena wasn’t even full, so what? I went ahead into watching AEW with open eyes, and no judgments, because I love wrestling and just wanted to see what would happen overall. So here we go, my thoughts on AEW Double or Nothing 2023, from Las Vegas, Nevada. I was at the first AEW, by the way, and hat was a great time, so I was expecting big things.

Orange Cassidy wins a 21 Man Blackjack Battle Royal

A great overall opener, and the crowd was into it. I like a good Battle Royal and well, Orange Cassidy survived, more than got a lot of offense in this one. He outlasted a ton of wrestlers, some more famous than others. I don’t want to write out the list, so I won’t. But there was a great showing from all, including the luchadors, which were fun to watch. Big Bill was interesting, I thought he was going to win to be honest. Brian Cage, Dusting Rhodes, Swerve Strickland, and Penta El Zero Miedo was great to see in the end. Orange won, and wow, good overall fun match if you ask me, which you didn’t.

Adam Cole defeated Chris Jericho in an unsanctioned match w/ Sabu as enforcer

So this was your street fight, which wasn’t terrible, but the naming convention was a little weird. Jericho got the bricks beat off of him at one point by Dr. Baker, and Adam Cole got hit hard a few times too, this was back and forth, no one had an edge for too long, and there was a great deal of damage done, including a table at ringside that Cole fell through. The match had a lame ending with Adam Cole winning after hitting Jericho in the face with punches. He just hit him a bunch until the ref stopped it. Meh. I didn’t like that ending, and I thought they could’ve thought of something more creative to end the match.

FTR defeated Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett w/ special guest referee Mark Briscoe in the AEW Tag Team Title Match

Not exactly a classic, but definitely not a bad match either. I found this to be a good overall match with a lot of action. There was back and forth, and lots of brawling, with some moves from FTR being tandem. Lethal and Jarrett are a good team, and they work well together. At one point, however, Jarrett hit Briscoe with a guitar and knocked him out, making this very exciting. But then Karen Jarrett hit the second ref with a guitar! This was a fun match, and went nuts at one point. After Briscoe woke up, a bit of back and forth and a shatter machine to get the victory. This wasn’t too bad, it ended up being a fun match, and FTR wins again.

Wardlow defeated Christian in a ladder match for the TNT Championship

As far as ladder matches go, this was ok at best. I liked it, fair enough, with Christian taking some major hits. Wardlow is young, and the announce team mentioned that several times. I didn’t hate this, but it was at half speed sometimes. Wardlow is good, and he meshes well with Christian’s offense. Wardlow really showed off his strength, and threw Christian around a bit, which was interesting to see. The two didn’t immediately go for the ladders, mind you, they took a little time before introducing the ladder inside the right, although they did get a few throws outside. Some major moments occurred including one hell of a dive off the top of a ladder through a table, and just splat. Wardlow wins this one, but it wasn’t without some punishment, and even Arn Anderson showing up.

Toni Storm defeated Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s Championship

Jamie Hayter caught a beat down from Ruby Soho and Saraya before coming out, and got beat up on the way to the ring. Storm would try to focus on Hayter’s arm as a result, and was dominant initially. A short match, with Toni Storm getting the win, and that was that. She’s pretty cool, and she won the match, fun stuff. Hayter couldn’t compete with 3 on one, and her arm was just wrecked. Dang.

The House of Black defeated Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed in the AEW Trios Open House Match

Not a terrible match, with some great back and forth action in this one. I liked the way things moved through quickly, and notably with Gunn and the Acclaimed doing some great tandem things. House of Black is awesome, I liked how they work. In the end House of Black would get the win, and it was a fun match.

Jade Cargill defeated Taya Valkyrie in the TBS Championship match

This was a good overall women’s match, with lots of back and forth. I liked it a lot, with Jade getting a good deal of offense against Taya. Taya is impressive too, and I liked to see her wrestle. The two put on a good showcase, and it was only about 9 minutes, but still had some hard hits and reversals. Fun stuff here.

Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship

Well, this got the crowd going, it was a squash basically, with just 50 seconds of action. Statlander basically went in and conquered with a tombstone piledriver and wins the TBS title. Fun stuff here, bu not a whole lot of action to write about.

MJF defeated Darby Allin, Jack Perry, and Sammy Guevara in the AEW World Title Match

Alright, so 3 out of the 4 guys in this match were flying around the ring. I mean flying, with dives, frog splashes, and a lot more. It was intense, and just amazing to see. All participants got a bit of offense in, and MJF would get the win at the end. However, if there is a weak link it’s MJF in terms of extremes, not to say he isn’t a good wrestler, but the acrobatics of the other 3 really outshined traditional wrestling at times. I liked the flying a lot, although the lucha themed elements leave a little to be desired in terms of psychology. This was a lot of fun, and MJF survives an onslaught of offense from all corners. This was plain fun, and just about 30 minutes of pure offense, not a lot of rest holds, although there were some great submission moments.

Blackpool Combat Club defeated The Elite in an anarchy in the arena match

So this was a wreck of a match. It was a brawl across the arena, and a hardcore match from the 2000s. It’s an interesting concept, but the execution is a little weird. It had a lot of guys fighting in different areas, all of them just brawling. There wasn’t a lot of great moves here, just a lot of brawling, and what not. Well, at least for the first majority of the match, lots of back and forth around the arena. There is a lot to explore on this one, but the end came with an outsider coming in, and well this was just a fun match overall.

Overall Thoughts

There’s a lot of great wrestling going on with Double or Nothing. I found that each match had a little charm, and the whole ppv was good. Nearly 4 hours of action, so it was a lot, but it was fun. The main event delivered, but it was every match that added a little bit to the overall event. I liked it. I had fun, hope you did too, and I’m slowly caching up to all the wrestling possible.