Naito's barely holding himself together. I appreciate the hustle and know he's gotta put the hours in since he's the only real native draw NJPW has right now, but the man needs to take at least six months off to heal up. Some real 1999 Keiji Muto vibes from the guy lately. Watching him walk to the ring makes me wince.

Man, every time I see him I still can't believe Alex Coughlin had to retire, he seemed like he had a lot ahead of him. Feels like Kitamura all over again.

Shota Umino is injured and taking off until the G1,As far as Forbidden Door i thought it was much better than the first one in 2022.I liked pretty much every match except mox vs Naito,Naito is shot and it's getting more and more noticeable that NJPW REALLY needs to elevate Tsuji and umino. There was still alot of NJPW talent on the show you'll never see me complaining HoT and just 5 guys weren't there lol.The main event was a decisive victory for swerve that didn't need interference from MJF to cost Ospreay or something along those lines. AEW has a big Dynamite in a few days that will be where the continuation of MJF/Garcia/Ospreay is.Mina and toni,Swerve vs Ospreay,Bryan vs shingo,Mercdes and Vaquer,and OC vs Zack i think all delivered being big matches.Sadly Mox and naito just didn't mesh like they did in chicago.

Seems like you're one of the few honest reviewers left. Thank you

Better forbidden door than I thought we would get but man Naito is done, he is becoming almost as bad as Tana. He still has the cool factor but he just aint up to main eventing anymore. It is kinda crazy watching this forb door, NJPW really doesnt have much to offer the overseas AEW audience. This card really showcased how down bad NJPW really is rn.

@The Rantin Review I went to the show last night n it was fun live! I wish more njpw guys like Sanada, Evil, narita, n Finlay were spotlighted more on the card.

Rarely do I disagree with Rantin. I really enjoyed this show. The main event alone was worth the cost of the ppv. Glad to see ZSJ get the win over Orange Cassidy. Danielson-Shingo was excellent. Although Mercedes-Vaquer wasn’t great, Vaquer was impressive and I like the setup between Britt and Mercedes with Mercedes as a heel. The only disappointment was Moxley-Naito.

Best matches 1. Swerve vs Ospreay 2. Shingo vs Danielson T3.Stephanie vs Mercedes /LIJ vs Lucha Bros and Mistico 5. Ladder match Honorable mention Toni vs Mina Oc vs ZSJ

Pretty much every match I thought would deliver, did that, outside of Mox vs Naito, which was disappointing to see. I even got a kick out of the Learning Tree vs Hook, Shibata and Joe, mainly because of Jeff Cobb and Samoa Joe interactions. I wanna see this one on one at some point, hopefully if Cobb is still champion by January 5th we can get Joe over to Japan for a title match.

I think this is the only time I've heard you mention the House of Torture not being involved as a bad thing, lol. One thing El Phantasmo could do would be to join and potentially lead Chaos. They're hurting for direction/leader.

MJF-Hechicero did not work as an opener for me, didn't get me excited and felt like a pre-show bout, which is sad for both guys. Elite vs Scissor Ace was the proper opener, fun match and Tana can still entertain. Danielson-Takagi delivered, good mix of technical and strong style with a very NJPW style build and pacing. Was rooting for Mina, but I can accept the outcome. Hope she sticks around, she's the best women's import AEW has had from Japan, on the level of Shida. ZSJ-Cassidy did indeed drag, maybe it was the chemistry but I was hoping for a slightly faster pace. Great finish tho. Jericho's shortcomings are thankfully hidden in multi man matches. Ladder match was passable, if predictable. Another great showing by Takeshita. I felt like Mone had go away heat instead of heel heat. Vaquer did great and Mone has not turned out to be as great as she was expected to, or should have been. Feels like people have turned on her hype and rumored control clause. At least the DMD returned at the end to save that part. Naito vs Mox was ok, if you didn't know much about either man. If you've seen what they can do, it was disappointing. The main event delivered, was exactly what it should have been. Overall, the novelty is indeed gone. The door is no longer forbidden and AEW has absorbed most of NJPW's roster, as you've said they get a better deal out of the partnership. Which was also apparent in how safe the booking was, all the NJPW guys lost, except ZSJ who'd have suffered if he lost to Cassidy, and Naito who needed to bring the belt back and win on US soil. I wish we had some more recaps and interviews before each match, because it felt like folks were fighting just because they're both great wrestlers. It's not sports entertainment as well as WWE pulls it off and it's not outright sports-like wrestling like NJPW does it (your mention of the G1 resembling playoffs and the drama emerging from the points comes to mind).

That Naito/Mox match was rough

Hangman is coming Wednesday to join the Owen Hart tournament. MJF probably interfering with the Osprey Garcia match Wednesday. They can't have every surprise happen on the PPV lol.

ZSJ winning against essentially the most MARKETIBLE MAN OF AEW is also a big thing. When you think about it. I also think we're about to get Suzuki vs Jericho MAYBE at Wrestle Kingdom. MAYBE AT THE NEW WRESTLE DYNASTY SHOW? The teases felt like stuff that's later down the line. This was an Okay show, i think this was more of, hey we're opening the door to CMLL and.....Well I think the Ladder Match was more of a 'Oh Shit we need to get the TNT title on Jack.' I did notice the lack of real New Japan stars, which maybe because of Injuries, New Japan wanting to hold most of their starts for the G1. Who knows, but i do know is that this show was okay. I think they're starting to do those string and threads for stories. It will be interesting to see what Wednesday holds for Swerves next contender. *Probably Hangman*

Really disagree on Mone vs Vaquoer i thought it was a really good much just wish Valquoer won she came across like a huge star

I believe the Suzuki vs Jericho match is at the next Dynamite. I have no idea why it wasn't on here.

Thought it was interesting how they announced the G1 spot was on the line, thought for the first time it made it more unpredictable. Does Naito need time off? Can he handle the g1? Sure, Mox has his built in feud with HoT and gives main event spots to Narita and EVIL, but so many possible ME opponents are the other LIJ guys (Tsuji vs Mox would be fresh, Takagi, Hiromu could really use some time as a heavyweight) that I was almost hoping Mox would win. It was interesting.

I honestly figured with the G1 around the corner AEW & NJPW wanted to play it safe as far as having some of the wrestlers wrestle at forbidden door

I saw the highlights. It felt like a nice show. Highs were top notch and the lows really noticeable. I’m more excited for the Tokyo show with AEW, CMLL, Stardom, ROH, and NJPW. The OG Elite back in Japan will be a great return for a couple of nights. I’m excited to see AEW in a different setting like what Bloodsport did in their Bushido PPV a few weeks ago in Sumo Hall. The weird part is this PPV had a cohesive and logical build but the PPV itself did not match the build to the PPV. Vice Versa AEW thrives with a unfocused build but the PPV is memorable.

Man seeing Naito Perform Last night made me a little sad. We all Get Old age does catch up with us all of Us he's not the same man from years ago his knees are bad. Solid review as always. Shingo and Danielson tore it up match of the night for me.

I really liked the show overall-- some boring matches but the ladder match, ZSJ, amazing Bryan match and 5+ star main evento were more than worth the price alone ❤ (I only pay $20 through Fite and AEW+ because I'm "in the UK," wink wink)

I pray to God its not Swerve vs Page main even All In

Thanks for the review ❤️

3:14 that's all on TK's bookin philosophy. Could be soo much better. I could say this for most.

It was a good show overall worth it.. it did kind of show the new dynamic between the 2 companies this year more than in years past.. and Guys like Jay White and Edge, a few others didn't even wrestle on the show.. so.. NJPW is clearly in a rebuild . Some the CMLL wrestlers are good.. but its sadly too predictable how they are being used. But, good show not mad at them for it.

I like crossover promotion. The dhow was good. Just way too long

Naito is in the G1...

I think for sure they've learned their lesson about putting IWGP belts on American wrestlers. The match did feel rushed and half-baked but honestly I think they just wanted to get it over with, get the belt on Naito and get it safely back to Japan. But as for all the NJPW wrestlers who weren't there, there were like 15 matches, how many more could there be?

Imagine you are given Moxley for 4 months and not book him to put over any young guy, at least Umino, Gedo sucks man.

Who else ended up watching the referee's odd gestures during the Naito and Moxley match?😅

I quit watching AEW in 2022 since then I've only been watching Stardom and moné's only loss has been against Mayu Iwatani then the strong belt was created for mone to win but mone got injured before winning it so it was obvious moné was winning this match. Ive seen big moné fans that started disliking moné because of her not losing and being a part timer during her IWGP run. Some people in the Stardom fandom are still mad at Mone because her match with Mayu was a bad PPV match for Mayu because Mayu wrestled like its a normal match on a random show she didn't wrestle like her regular PPV title match Mayu self. So i expect people to start booing and disliking Moné more after this match with Stephanie unless she starts losing before everyone starts complaining about her not losing. Sorry for the essay

Tony khan putting ZSJ over his butt buddy and little dog pockets was the biggest surprise