Road To AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door 2023

AEW held a special Championship Edition of Rampage on June 2nd, where titles from three promotions were defended in four matches. Two matches included New Japan titles, and the main event of that episode saw Katusyori Shibata defend the ROH Pure Championship. This is as close as I’ll probably get to reviewing a full episode of AEW TV:

NJPW World Television Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Action Andretti
AEW Rampage #97 – San Diego, CA – 6.2.2023

Sabre has been champion since 1.4.2023 and this is his ninth defense. All Television title matches have a 15 minute time limit. Sabre controls Andretti by his wrist, manipulating his fingers in the process. Andretti uses a twisting wrist drag off of the top turnbuckle to escape his grasp and uses the ropes for a twisting body press. Andretti sens Sabre to the outside with a headscissors and into the barricades with a suicide dive. When Andretti looks for a springboard dive, Sabre stops him with a bodyscissors and armbar in the ropes. He goes right back to working over Andretti’s left arm. Andretti uses his right arm to suplex his way out of a hammerlock guillotine. When Sabre goes to the floor to avoid a dive, Andretti pivots and lands an Arabian Press instead. A flying enzuigiri back in the ring gets him a two count. Andretti has Sabre set up for a super Frankensteiner. Sabre grabs a hammerlock to prevent it and forearms him down to the mat. Sabre gets cocky, allowing Andretti to jump back up and hit an enzuigiri, and then successfully deliver the Super Frankensteiner for two. Andretti has Sabre up in a Burning Hammer position and Sabre grabs a sleeper position. As Andretti fades, he gives up the hold and prawn holds Sabre for two. He then spikes Sabre with a reverse Frankensteiner and Jon Woo dropkicks him into the corner. Sabre kicks out of a split-legged moonsault. Andretti attempts a flying clothesline and gets caught with a right armed armbar. Sabre grabs the left arm and bends both of them behind Andretti’s back. Sabre uses his leg to add pressure, and Andretti verbally submits at 10:15. Sabre is not only so good because he is able to adapt to any style, but because he makes every opponent appear formidable. Several times during this match it seemed like Andretti just may get the upset, and he of course gets big points for making that so as well. I thought this would be a good match, but ended up enjoying the heck out of it. Check this out on YouTube if you missed it. ***½

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship
Willow Nightingale vs. Emi Sakura
AEW Rampage #97 – San Diego, CA – 6.2.2023

Willow has been champion since 5.21.2023 and this is her first defense. Willow overpowers Sakura to start, but a hair pull and eye rake from Sakura enable her to take Willow off of the apron with a crossbody block. Sakura hairmares Willow on the floor and then crossbody blocks Willow into the barricades! During the break, Sakura chops willow down to the mat and puts her in a Dragon sleeper. Willow escapes a double underhook with open hand strikes to Sakura’s rib cage and drops her with a spinebuster. After a hip attack and flying shotgun dropkick, Willow hoists Sakura onto her shoulders. Sakura slips out and drops Willow with Smash Mouth. Willow kicks out after taking a twisting senton, and rolls through a sunset flip to land a crossbody block for two. Sakura tries a Magistral cradle, but Willow trips her. Sakura does successfully land the Angel’s Wings but doesn’t go for a pin. Instead she lights up Willow with chops, but when she whips Willow to the opposite corner, Willow explodes back out with a Pounce. Sakura resists the Babe With the Powerbomb at first, but Willow pulls it off after a lariat for the pin at 8:00. This was a little sloppy, but overall a very enjoyable first defense for Willow. It is neat that Willow’s first defense is also against someone with a ton of experience in several Joshi promotions. **¾

ROH Pure Championship
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Lee Moriarty
AEW Rampage #97 – San Diego, CA – 6.2.2023

Shibata has been champion since 3.31.2023 this is his third defense. Big Bill accompanies Moriarty to the ring but does not stay in his corner. The Pure Rules are as follows:
*The competitors are to obey the “Code of Honor”, shaking one another’s hand before and after the match.
*Each wrestler has 3 rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler has used all 3 of their rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
*Closed-fist punches to the face are not permitted. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist results in a warning, a second will be a disqualification.
*This match has a 60 minute time limit. If the match goes past the time limit, three judges will determine the outcome. The judges for this match are ROH alumnus and former champions Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels & BJ Whitmer.
*Any wrestler who interferes will have their contract terminated. This was the verbiage provided by Excalibur, so it seems this rule is back in effect.

Moriarty lunges for the ropes to escape a triangle choke, using his first rope break. Moriarty elbow strikes Shibata to break a waistlock and stomps him down in the corner. Shibata grabs Moriarty’s boot and pulls himself back to his feet, but Moriarty dropkicks Shibata’s leg out from under him. Moriarty attacks Shibata’s left leg during the commercial break. When Moriarty takes too much yelling at the crowd before applying a submission, Shibata is able to take down Moriarty and put him in a figure seven leg lock. Moriarty spends a significant amount of time looking to escape on his own, but Shibata’s firm grip forces Moriarty to use his second rope break. Moriarty is forearmed down into a sitting position, but Moriarty recovers and surprises Shibata with a double knee attack in the opposite corner. He takes down Shibata with a suplex and strikes to the side of the head. Shibata catches Moriarty coming off of the ropes with a knee to the stomach. This time, he’s able to connect with the hesitation dropkick to Moriarty after knocking him down to a seated position in the corner. Shibata grabs the top rope when Shibata goes for a sleeper hold, using his third and final rope break. He rolls Shibata into the Border City Stretch. Shibata rolls Moriarty onto his shoulders to escape. After an open-hand strike, Shibata applied the sleeper hold, bringing Moriarty down into a seated position for a PK and the pin at 9:09. I enjoy this formula of Shibata breaking down his opponents, and once their rope breaks are gone, using a sleeper hold to knock them out into the PK. Moriarty is also a rock solid technical wrestler and kept the champion on his toes just enough to make it seem like he could pull off an upset. This was a really good choice to main event this Rampage episode, and now that AEW has Dynamite and Collision as the two featured shows, I hope they do more creative things like this with Rampage going forward. ***½

Former Pure champion Daniel Garcia confronts Shibata after the match. Shibata holds up his title while staring Garcia down, and it looks like we have a Pure title match in our future.

Two days later in Japan, the mini tournament to determine the #1 Contender for the United States Heavyweight Championship concluded at “Dominion”, the second largest New Japan event of the year:

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship #1 Contendership Match
Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW “Dominion 2023” – Osaka, Japan – 6.4.2023

This is a threematch, almost four years after the last time they met. Ospreay defeated Archer in the 2019 New Japan Cup, then Archer defeated Ospreay in the 2019 G1 Climax tournament. Archer defeated Fred Rosser and Ospreay defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the tournament semifinals. We almost get a repeat of the G1 with Archer attempting to chokeslam Ospreay through a ringside table, but Ospreay escaped his grasp and wiped him out with a Sky Twister Press on the floor. He follows up with an OsCutter back in the ring for two, but Archer cuts off his Hidden Blade attempt with a clothesline. Archer punishes Ospreay with running elbow strikes in the corner and forearm shots to the face, and as Ospreay begins to fight back, Archer knocks him down with a body block. After wiping out Ospreay with a somersault senton off of the apron, Archer sets him up for the Black Out. Ospreay fights free and lands a flying forearm strike to the neck. Archer tries another Body Block, and this time Ospreay counters with a Spanish Fly. Archer stops Ospreay on the top turnbuckle with a step-up knee strike and successfully lands the Black Out for two. Archer decides to climb to the top turnbuckle himself, where Ospreay nails him with a Cheeky Nando’s Kick. Archer avoids being pulled down into the StormBreaker and chokeslams Ospreay for two. Ospreay kicks Archer in the knee and head. He hits Hidden Blade but only gets a one count. Three more Hidden Blades, with the third being hit without an elbow pad, gets Ospreay the pin at 8:01. They packed a lot of action into a short period of time, while also sneaking into multiple callbacks to their previous encounters. These two still work tremendously well together, and I would welcome more Archer appearances in New Japan. ***½

After the match, Ospreay confirms our suspicions by stating explicitly that he will challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at “Forbidden Door” on June 25th. Ospreay says this time, he is coming into Omega’s territory, and promises to bring the IWGP United States Heavyweight title back to New Japan. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge matching their first encounter, but I am very excited for the rematch.

In the semi-main event of the evening, Jon Moxley returned to Japan, bringing along fellow Black Combat Club member Claudio Castagnoli, to team with Shota Umino and challenge for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team titles. This match would be Claudio’s NJPW debut, previously competing in Pro Wrestling NOAH between 2008 and 2011.

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli) & Shota Umino
NJPW “Dominion 2023” – Osaka, Japan – 6.4.2023

Okada, Tanahashi, and Ishii have been champions since 5.3.2023 and this is their first defense. After Tanahashi takes down Claudio with a crossbody, Moxley attacks him from behind. Ishii then enters to assist. The six man champions take down everybody on the opposing team, but when the dust settles, Claudio catches Tanahashi with a backbreaker. Umino comes in and forearms Okada on the apron. Okada has spent 2023 manhandling “young boys”, and he does the same to Umino on the floor, sending him crashing into the barricades. Umino however throws a table into Okada’s head, and the BCC take out Ishii and Tanahashi afterwards. The three of them put the boots to Okada in their corner. Umino aggressively attacks Okada, but Okada evades a corner attack and plants him with a DDT to get the opportunity to tag in Tanahashi. Tanahashi takes out everyone, ending with a dragonscrew leg whip to Claudio. Ishii and Claudio fight for a brainbuster, with Ishii ending up successful. He also plants Moxley with a shoulder block, but Claudio takes him down with an Alpamare Water Slide. Moxley bites Ishii in the head and drops him with a piledriver (after also taking out Okada with a double clothesline). Tanahashi dives in to break up the pin, so Claudio throws him into the barricades. Ishii and Moxley end up in a battle of clotheslines. Ishii busts open Moxley with a headbutt, and Moxley curb stomps his head into the mat. Okada breaks the pin and Umino tosses him outside. Claudio uppercuts Ishii into a lariat from Moxley for two. Tanahashi saves Ishii from the Death Rider with a Sling Blade, and Ishii nails a Sliding D for two. Ishii takes an Ace Crusher but immediately lariats Moxley, resulting in both men collapsing. Okada and Umino end up as the legal men once more. Okada gets the Money Clip applied after a Jon Woo dropkick. He paint brushes and boot scrapes the back of Umino’s head aggressively after Uino grabs the ropes to escape, and Umino responds with a dropkick. Claudio then Giant Swings Okada before he, Moxley, and Umino triple powerbomb him for two. Umino lands a neckbreaker on Okada before attempting the Death Rider, and Okada backdrops his way free. Umino ducks the Rainmaker and pulls Okada into a cradle DDT for a close nearfall. Tanahashi takes out Claudio with a Twist and Shout and he jabs Moxley into a German suplex from Ishii. Ishii and Tanahashi assist Okada with an elevated DDT on Umino. As Umino and Okada go face to face, Umino tries a Death Rider again. Okada counters into a tombstone piledriver, and then nails the Rainmaker for the pin at 20:37. This match had the feeling of chaos punctuated by the central issue between Umino and Okada. Umino so badly wants to prove he’s as good as Okada and his partners, and while he has determination and grit, he isn’t at their level just yet. His inexperience showed with his tunnel vision on Okada resulting in Okada’s partners being able to blindside him and for Okada to anticipate his offense due to repetition. I come out of this match with three distinct singles matches I want to see (Claudio vs. Tanahashi, Ishii vs. Moxley 2, and Okada vs. Umino), while also having enjoyed this match on its own merits. ****

After the match, Moxley directs Tanahashi’s attention to the big screen. A video plays, where Bryan Danielson calls out Okada for a match, stating that Okada had previously stated in interviews that he wished to wrestle him. Okada accepts on the spot, and two days later it was confirmed for “Forbidden Door.” On the following episode of Dynamite, members of Okada’s CHAOS stable would face members of Danielson’s Blackpool Combat Club, as Danielson watched from commentary:

CHAOS (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor) vs. The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta)
AEW Dynamite #192 – Colorado Springs, CO – 6.7.2023

CHAOS wisely attacks the BCC as they enter through the crowd. If Claudio hadn’t made the save, Taylor would’ve pinned Yuta with a piledriver right from the start. The BCC makes Taylor pay by beating him down in their corner. Beretta distracts Moxley and Claudio by pulling Yuta off of the apron and sending him into the barricades. Romero then wipes out Moxley with a running knee strike off of the apron as Taylor wipes out Claudio with a tope con hilo. After a Sole Food/half-nelson suplex combo on Moxley, CHAOS seems poised to keep him isolated, by Yuta trips Taylor from the outside, allowing the BCC to take the match back over by resuming their beatdown on the Kentucky Gentleman. Taylor finally escapes by blasting Yuta with the Brodie Knee and tagging in Berett, who immediately spears Moxley. Beretta and Romero nail him with double knees before Romero double stomps him across the top rope. A sliding Busaiku Knee gets Beretta a two count. Yuta pulls Romero to the floor to prevent him and Beretta from delivering Strong Zero to Moxley. Taylor however steps in and pulls it off, but Claudio once again saves the match for his team. Beretta tries wiping out Claudio with a moonsault to the floor as Romero locks Moxley in the Diablo Armbar. However, Claudio uppercuts Beretta out of mid-air. Moxley reverses the hold into a Bulldog Choke. Yuta throws hammer and nail elbows at Taylor’s head to prevent him from interjecting, and Romero taps out at 8:14. That was honestly far more evenly contested than I anticipated, and I think it is fantastic that CHAOS took to BCC with an unexpected ferocity. While it is a bit strange to use surrogates to build a feud, it works for this particular match. A fun, intense match from two tremendous trios. ***½

Despite having no matches involving New Japan talent, the June 14th episode of Dynamite was very active in building the Forbidden Door card. First, SANADA issued an open challenge for his IWGP World Heavyweight Title That open challenge would be accepted by Jack Perry, who also asked HOOK to be in his corner for the match. Later in this match, Hiroshi Tanahashi challenged MJF to a match. Despite MJF declining, the match was made official, with MJF’s AEW World title on the line as well.

The main event of the evening saw The Young Bucks and Hangman Page defeat The Blackpool Combat Club, with Yuta being pinned after a BTE Trigger and Buckshot Lariat. The two sides brawled after the match, with Eddie Kingston, Konosuke Takeshita, and Kenny Omega getting involved as well.

Will Ospreay surprised Omega with a superkick. Ospreay then pointed to the scar on his head left from his and Omega’s battle at Wrestle Kingdom before blasting him with a Hidden Blade. Ospreay then planted Omega with a Stormbreaker and delivered a second Hidden Blade before leaving. Ospreay would reappear on Rampage two days later with a couple United Empire members by his side:

CHAOS (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor) vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher)
AEW Rampage #99 – Washington, D.C. – 6.16.2023

CHAOS sends all of the United Empire out to the floor, and Romero wipes out Ospreay with a suicide dive. Taylor follows with a tope con hilo to Cobb and Fletcher, with Beretta then landing a moonsault onto both of them. Ospreay is ganged up on CHAOS back in the ring, but wipes out Taylor with a back handspring kick. Cobb and Fletcher knock Beretta and Romero off of the apron, leaving Taylor isolated in the United Empire corner. After a couple of minutes, Taylor gives Cobb Sole Food and tags in Beretta, who German suplexes Fletcher twice in addition to a Saito suplex. Fletcher however counters a tornado DDT with a brainbuster. Romero and Beretta Beretta and Romero nail him with double knees before Romero double stomps him across the top rope. Cobb deadlifts Beretta into a German suplex to break his pin and tosses Romero to the corner. He then drags Fletcher to the corner so he can tag in legally. He takes double knees from Romero and Beretta twice before being slammed by Big Dust. CHAOS hugs after a Sole Food/half-nelson suplex. Cobb surprises Beretta and Taylor with a double suplex and counters Romero’s tornado DDT with a belly-to-belly suplex. Romero blocks Ospreay’s Hidden Blade with a backslide, getting a very close nearfall in the process. Offense from all six competitors ends with Romero turning Ospreay inside out with a clothesline and attempting a Shiranui. Fletcher pulls Romero off of Ospreay into a tombstone, then sets him up for the Hidden Blade from Ospreay. Ospreay connects and gets the pin at 11:33. This didn’t have the purpose behind it that the CHAOS/BCC match did, but was a nice follow-up to Ospreay’s impactful reappearance on Dynamite. It also is worth mentioning just how fantastic Beretta is – he almost always stands out to me in these bouts. ***¼

On the June 14th Dynamite, they set up Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Sting & Darby Allin for the following week’s episode. However, when they ran down the Dynamite card during the first episode of Collision, the match had mysteriously changed into a six man tag without Sting and Darby. Instead. Minoru Suzuki would join Jericho and Guevara for the first time since last year’s Forbidden Door and take on a trio who had recently challenged for the ROH Six Man Tag Titles.

AR Fox, Darius Martin & Action Andretti vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara) & Minoru Suzuki
AEW Dynamite #194 – Chicago, IL – 6.21.2023

Fox ends up trapped in the JAS and Suzuki corner thanks to a knee to the back from Guevara on the apron. The JAS are the ones who keep Fox at bay, and when Fox knocks out Guevara with an enzuigiri. Andretti gets to go face-to-face with Jericho once more. During their exchange, he surprises Guevara with a suicide dive, and then takes down Jericho with a springboard clothesline and a Jon Woo dropkick. Suzuki surprises Andretti with a sleeper hold, and when Martin frees him, Suzuki knocks him down with a forearm smash. Guevara takes out both Andretti and Martin with a double springback Ace Crusher. Fox Lo Mein Rains onto Guevara on the outside as Andretti sneaks in a schoolboy on Jericho for two. A running shooting star press gets Andretti another two count. After Fox takes out Guevara with the FoxCatcher, Suzuki puts him in a sleeper hold and spikes him with a Gotch Style Piledriver. Jericho eliminates Andretti with the Code Breaker. Martin runs roughshod on Jericho, but when he comes off of the top with a dropkick, Jericho catches him doming down and locks him in the Liontamer until he submits at 10:28. This served as both a solid warm-up match for JAS and Suzuki while giving the tremendous trio of Fox, Martin, and Andretti their biggest match to date. The Andretti upset over Jericho was enough of a factor to give credibility to the challengers, even if the winner was never really in doubt. ***¼

After the match, Jericho makes a challenge to Sting for a six man tag team match on Sunday, the very first time they would be in a ring together. Jericho wonders if Sting has the guts to accept, but is interrupted by Sting himself along with Darby Allin. Sting accepts the challenge. Allin says Jericho has made a lot of enemies in a lot of places, and they have just the guy to be their partner.

On that Saturday’s Collision, they would reveal their partner to be Tetsuya Naito, whom Jericho defeated for the IWGP Intercontinental Title at Dominion in 2018, and who won the title back from Jericho at “Wrestle Kingdom 13” the following January.

Also on the June 14th episode of Dynamite, NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. approached Orange Cassidy backstage and expressed his interest in Cassidy’s AEW International Champion. Danel Garcia interrupted, stating he came the closest of all of Cassidy’s challengers during his title reign, and that he has aspirations for Katsuyori Shibata’s ROH Pure Title. Cassidy mentions that Shibata will be at Dynamite next week, and sets up a tag match for himself and Shibata to face Sabre and Garcia. Sabre doesn’t seem on board, but the match is made official.

Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Daniel Garcia
AEW Dynamite #194 – Chicago, IL – 6.21.2023

The fans chant “you’re a wrestler” at Garcia to antagonize him, and in response, he ramps up his dancing/gyrating quotient as he strikes Cassidy. Shibata and Sabre then square off, Sabre rolls to his corner after escaping an ankle lock, and Garcia tags himself in. Shibata shut down Garcia’s trash talk quickly with forearm strikes and uppercuts. Garcia pops him in the nose and then in the forehead with a closed fist, and when he stumbles to the corner, Cassidy tags himself in. He mocks Garcia with his own version of his dance. He dropkicks Garcia to the corner and Sabre tags back in. He allows for Cassidy to throw his little kicks, but becomes frustrated and snapmares him into a neck twist using his feet. Sabre and Garcia get on the same page, beating down Cassidy in their corner, with some focus on Cassidy’s taped-up injured right hand. Cassidy finally escapes their grasp when counters a suplex from Sabre into Stun Dog Millionaire. Sabre kicks at Shibata’s left arm. Garcia stomps and strikes Shibata as he grasps his left elbow, but Shibata fights back and punts Garcia in the spine. Garcia mocks Shibata’s seated pose, and with Cassidy’s lead, he and Shibata pepper him with little kicks. When Sabre comes in, Cassidy and Shibata pound the opposition into a seated position, and each of them deliver hesitation dropkicks. Shibata holds open the rope for Cassidy to wipe out Sabre with a suicide dive, and Shibata delivers a hesitation dropkick to Garcia for two. Garcia jams Shibata’s shoulder and rolls him into the Dragon Tamer. Shibata reverses into a heel hook, but Sabre surprises him with a neck snap. Cassidy spikes Sabre with a tornado DDT. Garcia wipes out Cassidy with a running boot. Garcia and Shibata trade running boots, and Shibata locks in a sleeper hold. He releases when he sees Sabre charging and kicks him. Cassidy accidentally Orange Punches Shibata, and Garcia schoolboys Shibata for the pin at 16:36. Garcia pinning Shibata definitely makes him a contender for the Pure title, but does put into question if he could’ve gotten the job done without the friendly fire. This was good, but a little long, though I do anticipate their PPV match being darn good. ***¼

It’s confirmed after the match that Cassidy will defend the AEW International Title against Garcia, Sabre, and Shibata at “Forbidden Door.” I would’ve preferred two singles matches (Cassidy vs. Sabre and Shibata vs. Garcia), but I suppose with Cassidy and Sabre both as champions that would’ve been a political challenge, and we’re saving Shibata vs. Garcia for Death Before Dishonor.

Don Callis approaches Will Ospreay backstage, offering him special security in Toronto to protect him from Omega’s rabid Canadian fanbase. Ospreay asks what Callis wants in return, and Callis just says he wants a fair fight. He offers Ospreay luck, and Ospreay seems rightfully reluctant of Callis. Additionally, Toni Storm has challenged NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale to an AEW Women’s World title match at Forbidden Door, and it is made official.

Later in the night, Eddie Kingston is in the middle of the ring, and says the reason why he is teaming with The Elite on Sunday is that his hatred for Claudio Castagnoli supersedes his dislike of The Young Bucks. Jon Moxley comes through the crowd and goes eye-to-eye with the War King in the middle of the ring. He tells Kingston that he is drawing the line come Forbidden Line, but Kingston tells Moxley he drew the line long ago when he decided to team with Claudio. Moxley is left speechless, and Eddie Kingston reveals the fifth man for his team on Sunday: Tomohiro Ishii. The rest of the Blackpool Combat Club attacks Kingston and Ishii. Bryan Danielson then calls out Kazuchika Okada, and says he is going to stomp Ishii’s face in if he doesn’t come out.

The Chicago crowd goes ape when Okada’s music hits, and the Rainmaker goes face-to-face with the American Dragon. Yuta attacks him from behind, but Danielson accidentally wipes out Yuta with a Busaiku Knee. Danielson escapes the Rainmaker, so Okada instead pulls up Yuta and nails him with the Rainmaker instead. The episode ends with Okada and Danielson staring each other down.

CHAOS and the United Empire would once again wrestle on Rampage, this time in an eight man tag team match, with YOH making his AEW debut.

CHAOS (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor & YOH) vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher) & Swerve Strickland
AEW Rampage #100 – Chicago, IL – 6.23.2023

Prince Nana is in Strickland and UE’s corner. An all out brawl starts the match, and even though Ospreay pummels YOH in the corner, he takes Ospreay off of his feet and dropkicks him in the side of the head. Taylor takes down Strickland with a low dropkick, and then with Beretta delivers a double elbow drop. Beretta halfnelson suplexes Fletcher, but Fletcher body slams him moments later. Romero and Beretta nail double knee strikes on Fletcher, and then Romero double stomps Fletcher across the top rope. CHAOS prepares for a group hug for YOH, but the United Empire pulls everybody else to the floor and Strickland takes down YOH with a roll-up Complete Shot. Romero is rolled back into the ring and beaten down in the UE corner. Strickland gets cocky and goes to strike CHAOS, but is blocked by Taylor, who punches him into an enzuigiri from Romero. YOH re-enters the match legally but is knocked out with a back handspring tumbleweed kick from Ospreay. YOH takes him out with a flying forearm strike and lands a bridging front facelock suplex for two. All of CHAOS beats down Ospreay and finally gest the chance to hug YOH. YOH Falcon Arrows Ospreay, but Strickland breaks up the pin with the House Call. He also wipes out Romero on the floor with a boot from the apron. Cobb Spin Cycles YOH into a jackknife pin from Ospreay. YOH kicks out, so Ospreay cracks him with the Hidden Blade for the pin at 9:31. This was a good way for Ospreay to gain more momentum heading into Forbidden Door, and Strickland to get momentum heading into his match with Tanahashi tomorrow. I also liked that YOH got a significant amount of ring time in his AEW debut. Even without taking that into consideration, it was a fun and energetic match to get the show off on the right foot. ***¼

Adam Cole came to the ring after this match to address the crowd. Before he could say anything, MJF comes out and sarcastically thanks Cole for giving him the courage to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi’s AEW World Title challenge, and as a thank you, he got Cole a match on the card against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. Lawlor and Royce Isaacs ran in from the crowd and beat down Cole. MJF purposefully takes his time making his way to the ring to save Cole, “chasing” them off when he eventually does. MJF then sarcastically wishes Cole luck on Sunday. Interesting last minute addition to the card.

Ahead of challenging SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Jack Perry had a warm-up match against one of SANADA’s Just 5 Guys teammates, who is also making his AEW debut.

Jack Perry vs. DOUKI
AEW Rampage #100 – Chicago, IL – 6.23.2023

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is in DOUKI’s corner. Perry impressives with his Lucha acumen against DOUKI. Even though DOUKI takes him out with a suicide dive, Perry sends him crashing back first into the barricades and also drops him back first onto the ring apron. DOUKI rolls through a sunset flip from Perry and delivers a low dropkick. He chokes Perry with his bot and digs his fingers into his eyes as well. The fans get behind DOUKI as Perry converts from a chinlock to throwing DOUKI to the mat by his hair. DOUKI impresses with the Daton-no-Jutsu, which earns him a two count. Perry pumphandles DOUKI into a gutbuster before muscling him up into a sit-out Tiger Driver for two. The crowd once again gets behind DOUKI as Perry moves the timekeeper’s table closer to the ring. DOUKI ends up putting Perry through it with a diving senton! However, Perry is able to block Daybreak with a superkick back in the ring. DOUKI however counters a brainbuster and gets another two count. DOUKI pulls off the Daybreak the second time, but once again fails to keep Perry down for a three count. He has Perry set up in the Suplex de la Luna, but Perry forward rolls to escape. He lands a reverse Frankensteiner and blasts DOUKI with an elbow strike in the back of the head. He pulls DOUKI into SANADA’s submission finisher, the Skull End, and submits DOUKI at 10:13. I expected this to be a solid set-up match for Perry and SANADA on Sunday, and it ended up being way more interesting than that. The crowd booing Perry and cheering DOUKI was unexpected and changed the entire dynamic of the match. This result resulted in the intensity picking up, DOUKI’s nearfalls getting more exciting, and Perry using SANADA’s finisher came across as more dastardly due to the crowd’s disdain for him. If this results in DOUKI being featured more in the U.S., count me in. What a great surprise. ***½

SANADA and Perry go head-to-head in the ring to end the episode.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Swerve Strickland
AEW Collision #2 – Toronto, ONT – 6.24.2023

Prince Nana is in Strickland’s corner, who is now donning the same robe Jimmy Rave did when he was part of Nana’s Embassy in ROH. Tanahashi used his air guitar to bait Strickland into a dropkick to his knee. Strickland sends the Ace to the floor with a headscissors. When Tanahashi tries to re-enter the ring, Strickland kicks the rope into his groin and then kicks him in the side of the head. He also traps Tanahashi in the ring apron and heel kicks him in the head. Strickland delivers a diving uppercut to his neck. Tanahashi comes back with a flying forearm and a somersault senton off of the second turnbuckle for two. Strickland avoids a corner attack and drops Tanahashi with a Complete Shot. Tanahashi rolls Strickland forward to avoid the JML Driver and then small packages him for two. Tanahashi takes down Strickland with a dragonscrew leg whip and then lands the Slingblade for two. Strickland gets his knees up to block the High Fly Flow. He kicks Tanahashi in the knee and the back of the head and perches the top turnbuckle for the Swerve Stomp. Tanahashi rolls out of the way and once again delivers the Slingblade. Tanahash almost falls off of the top turnbuckle, but recovers and knocks Strickland down. The High Fly Flow connects, giving Tanahashi the pin at 10:45. As a big Tanahashi fan, this was a tough watch. He’s slowed down intentionally for a few years now, but here he looked to be in pain and was slightly off step. Strickland did great as Tanahashi’s opponent, but he may not have been the best “fit” for Tanahashi. The AEW title match Sunday will be interesting. **¾

The Men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament kicks off at Forbidden Door, with Satoshi Kojima facing CM Punk in the opening round. Kojima remembers meeting Punk in 2003 at Final Battle 2003, but more importantly, he tells Punk: