Toronto, ONT – 6.25.2023

Tony Khan announced on Twitter that the scheduled match between Adam Cole and Tom Lawlor was canceled due to Cole being ill. Fortunately, Lawlor faced a superior foe in Serpentico in a dark match prior to the Zero Hour, pinning him with the NKOTB in 4:13.

Zero Hour

Commentary is provided by Kevin Kelly, Excalibur & Chris Charlton.

CHAOS (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor) & El Desperado vs. The Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)

Prince Nana is in The Mogul Embassy’s corner. Liona was the one to cut off Beretta with a Samoan Drop and the Mogul Embassy were acute in keeping Beretta isolated, including knocking his partners off the apron after he had taken down Cage with a half-nelson suplex so they could keep the beatdown going. A missed Stinger Splash from Liona enabled Beretta to tag in Desperado, who took down Strickland, who he met during last year’s Zero Hour, with a spinebuster. Desperado strategically used the momentum of the Mogul Embassy to take each other down, and that earned him a hug from CHAOS. This confused Desperado, who was in the midst of following up his attack on Strickland, but he offered a half-hearted thumbs up. The pause gave the Mogul Embassy time to recoup, and after doing so, took down Desperado with a triple powerbomb and a House Call. Cage took down Strickland with a rolling clothesline, and Best Friends swooped in with a Strong Zero on Strickland right away, but Kaun saved his partner and took out the Best Friends on the floor. Romero looked for a Shiranui on Strickland, but an assist from Brian Cage resulted in Romero instead succumbing to an F-5/Ace Crusher combo. The Swerve Stomp from Strickland to Romero earned his team the pin at 12:23. I’ve been impressed with both teams’ lately, and Strickland and the Embassy getting a strong showing in front of a large crowd is a good thing. Desperado’s involvement being insignificant is a shame. It was still a good, fun match, but just nothing you couldn’t find on an average AEW or ROH episode. ***

Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Athena vs. Billie Starkz

Starkz shows no fear going up against the ROH Women’s champion. Athena stops her offensive stride with a headscissors that sends her face first into the middle turnbuckle. Starkz manages to counter the O-Face with a superkick out of mid air and fight back, only for Athena to run into the ropes to crotch Starkz on the top turnbuckle. Athena brought her down from the top with a super Frankensteiner, followed by a powerbomb and superkick. Starkz fought through the pain and got in a shotgun dropkick battle with Athena of all things. She went for broke with a Swanton Bomb onto the ring apron and ended up missing. Athena kneed Starkz’s head into the announce table, and then in the ring put her away with the Wrath of the Goddess at 7:49. I’m happy to see some ROH representation on this show, and interested to see ROH Women’s Champion Athena vs. NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Willow in the second round of this tournament. Starkz is a good underdog, and her poor decision making costing her the match worked for the story they were telling. It was nice to see her look competitive against Athena, but they had a challenge getting this crowd into the match. **½

El Phantasmo vs. Stu Grayson

The Righteous of Vincent and Dutch are in Grayson’s corner. Phantasmo and Grayson are both Canadian boys, so it’s neat to see them featured on a big show in their home country. After sending Grayson crashing back first into the barricades, Phantasmo delivered his Swanton Bomb and lionsault combo. Grayson not only kicked out, but then yanked Phantasmo up onto his shoulders for a sit-out spin-out facebuster. An Avalanche Frankensteiner and Thunder Kiss ‘86 couldn’t get ELP the pin, and Grayson blocked Sudden Death with his leg. He Pele kicked ELP and landed a 450 splash for his own two count. ELP fought out of the Knightfall and surprised Grayson with the Phoenix DDT before landing the CR II for the pin at 7:14. With Phantasmo entering the G1 Climax in a few weeks, him coming out victorious was an easy call to make. That said, Grayson was presented as and wrestled as an imposing opponent, which I appreciated. Perhaps most impressive was Grayson catching Phantasmo’s crossbody attempt and spinning him out into a slam. This was super fun and a great showcase for both competitors. ***¼

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) vs. The United Empire (Jeff Cobb, TJP & Kyle Fletcher)

The United Empire attacked before the bell and sequestered BUSHI in their corner. BUSHI escaped when he slipped out of a suplex from Cobb and dropkicked him in the knee. Takahashi took out Cobb with a running headscissors. TJP and Fletcher hit the ring, but Takahashi used TJP both to take out Fletcher with a headscissors and to be dropkicked into Cobb. Takahashi then rolled Cobb into a basement dropkick. He goes back to Cobb’s knee, but he is still unable to lift Cobb. He instead tries a headscissors and ends up being launched across the ring with a belly-to-belly suplex. Takagi gets a nice reception from the Toronto crowd. He fights through a half-nelson suplex from Fletcher, but is taken down with a superkick. The United Empire triple team Takagi in the corner, ending with a Spin Cycle from Cobb into the Mamba Splash from TJP. Takahashi breaks up the pin.Takagi pops up TJP into a Death Valley Driver. Cobb prevents TJP from being pinned by the Pumping Bomber. Takahashi takes him out with a shotgun dropkick off of the apron and BUSHI sends Fletcher into the barricades with a suicide dive, leaving Takagi the opening to give TJP an unusually delayed version of Made In Japan for the pin at 7:30. I like everyone in this match (maybe not BUSHI) and was happy to see them, but it was your garden variety New Japan touring trios match. The good news is, that’s still a solid match. But why wasn’t this an interpromotional match? Why present a New Japan match we could see literally any time? Silly. ***

Main Show

Commentary is provided by Kevin Kelly, Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone.

AEW World Championship
MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

MJF has been champion since 11.19.2022 and this is his fourth defense. MJF bad mouthing New Japan led to Tanahashi challenging MJF to this title match. MJF declined at first, but was goading into accepting due to his foe Adam Cole calling him a coward. MJF rolled to the floor twice to stunt Tanahashi’s momentum, then worked over his midsection after dropping him stomach first onto the top rope. MJF added insult to injury by utilizing Antonio Inoki’s Cobra Stretch. MJF got caught using the top rope for extra leverage, and when he gave Bryce Remsburg guff, Bryce kicked his arm away, allowing Tanahashi to hip toss his way free and take over on offense. Tanahashi nursed his ribs after a high crossbody, and ended up being superplexed after MJF crotched him on the top turnbuckle to block the High Fly Flow. Tanahashi found an opening when he blocked MJF’s rope-assisted piledriver and MJF landed on his left knee. MJF’s knee buckled when he tried a suplex, and he hurt his own knee when he put them up to block Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow attempt. Tanahashi had a visual pin on the champion as Bryce was getting rid of the AEW title MJF tried to use as a weapon. MJF then shoved Tanahashi into Bryce and cracked Tanahashi with the Dynamite Diamond Ring to get the pin at 15:46. Tanahashi was more mobile in this match than he was the night before, and also used more non-physical attributes such as his air guitar to get the crowd engaged. Even though I understand that it is in MJF’s nature to cheat to win, the ending left me feeling hollow. I was hoping MJF wearing down Tanahashi’s midsection would pay off, especially because Tanahashi at this stage of his career is somebody I don’t feel needs protecting. Good match overall, kind of a stinky finish. **¾

Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal Match
CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima

This late addition to the card left us with two memorable moments: Kojima did an elbow drop onto Punk’s dick, and Punk making a self-reference to his Homicide impression from his and Samoa Joe’s tremendous Straight Shootin interview from 2005. The Toronto crowd hated Punk, and he was more than happy to play into that, throwing in a Hogan bodyslam/leg drop combo for the hell of it, and taunting Kojima by using the signature Mongolian Chops of Kojima’s tag team partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Kojima made him pay for it with rapid fire chops, and that’s also when the elbow drop landed on Punk’s dick. In hindsight, Punk deserved it for being a jerk! Kojima also rocked him with his own Mongolian Chops, showing Bepis Phil how it’s done. Kojima fought out of the GTS twice, dropping Punk with the Koji Cutter the first time, and a brainbuster the second. After kicking out of the brainbuster, Kojima looked for the lariat. Punk ducked, roundhouse kicked Kojima, and pulled off the Go 2 Sleep for the pin at 13:40. What made that final moment even better is commentary telling us that Kojima has won every match since 2009 with the lariat, which emphasized the importance of Punk dodging that move. For a guy who hasn’t wrestled a singles match in nine months and another guy North of 50, this was really good. The crowd’s involvement helped raise the energy and intensity of the bout. It also made Kojima’s nearfalls more significant, which is saying something since there was no doubt Punk was moving on in the tournament. This is the best version of this match-up you can get in 2023, and I mean that as a compliment. ***¼

AEW International Championship
Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia

Cassidy has been champion since 10.12.2022 and this is his twenty-fifth defense. The story they’ve been telling with Cassidy is the physical toll he’s taken by defending the title so often, as evidenced by the kinesio tape on Cassidy’s neck and lower back. He also has a taped up right hand. Cassidy tried to end the match early, while the other three fought to prevent each other from scoring a quick victory on the damaged champion. They got so focused on striking one another that they hardly noticed Cassidy slipping to the outside to hide. Shibata and Sabre became hyper focused on one another during the bout, evidenced by them continuing to open hand strike each other even when Garcia and Cassidy had them in dueling Octopus stretches. Garcia pinned Shibata just a few days ago, and he almost did the same after clobbering Shibata with his ROH Pure title. Shibata took him out with a hesitation dropkick, then traded overhand chops with Cassidy mid-ring, going from a seated position up to their feet. Cassidy hurt his injured hand with the Orange Punch, but was able to follow up with the Beach Break. Garcia inadvertently saved Cassidy from Sabre manipulating his hand. Sabre got rid of Garcia and pulled Cassidy down into a full body stretch, which was broken by Shibata pulling Sabre up into a sleeper hold. Shibata had to kick Garcia off of the apron before going for the PK, Sabre ducked the kick and got Shibata into a European Clutch for two. After Garcia gave Sabre a piledriver, Shibata ran in and PK’d Garcia. Cassidy shoved Shibata from behind to the floor and crucifix pinned Garcia at 11:15. What made this match work was the individual stories and rivalries, as it made the moments where two participants were left to fight on their own less irksome since there was something to sink your teeth into. Cassidy’s always been crafty and smart, and here he knew exactly when to be physically involved and when to disappear. He capitalized on an opening and came out victorious, but just barely. And we have so many interesting singles matches coming out of this too! This title was established at last year’s Forbidden Door in a four way, and a year later, we have another four way that I think bested the original. ***½

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
SANADA vs. Jack Perry

SANADA has been champion since 4.8.2023 and this is his third defense. DOUKI is in SANADA’s corner and HOOK is in Perry’s corner. Perry answered an open challenge from SANADA, in the hopes of fulfilling his promise to win a title in 2023. Perry scored big early on, locking SANADA in the Snare Trap and taking him out with a suicide dive. SANADA scored a mental victory by putting him in the Paradise Lock, embarrassing him in front of an antagonizing Toronto crowd before releasing him with a dropkick. SANADA kicked out of a Tiger Driver, and surprised Perry with Total Anarchy by reversing his vertical suplex attempt. Perry took back the mental advantage by putting SANADA in his own Skull End submission, which Perry used to defeat DOUKI on Friday night. Perry also escaped the Skull End twice when SANADA attempted to apply it. SANADA avoided Perry’s reverse Frankensteiner and delivered one of his own. After getting two with the Shining Wizard, SANADA landed a moonsault for the pin at 10:49. The tribute to Muta wass nice, but SANADA not even needing to utilize the Deadfall to defeat Perry seems emblematic of how he felt about his challenger. The match itself was pedestrian and low energy. The crowd didn’t seem to care, either because they didn’t buy Perry as a challenger, or have no attachment to SANADA or his title. Ultimately this was fine, and thankfully kept short. Perry attacks HOOK on the entrance ramp after the match and makes it seem like he’s going for the FTW title. What a shift in title projections that is. **½

The Elite (Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Hangman Page), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii vs. The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta), Shota Umino & Konosuke Takeshita

Everyone was waiting for Kingston and Moxley to come face-to-face, standing up when both became the legal men. Moxley and Kingston ended trading chops, and also chopping anybody who tried to enter and disrupt. Even when an all out brawl erupted between the teams ringside, there Moxley and Kingston remained mid-ring, chopping themselves into exhaustion. The reason for the tension between these two former friends is Moxley willingly partnering with Kingston’s mortal enemy, Claudio Castagnoli, and it was Claudio who ended their exchange by surprising Kingston with an uppercut. While Claudio’s partners helped to keep Kingston beaten down in their corner, it was Claudio’s barrage of deep, aggressive uppercuts to Kingston that did the most damage. When Kingston blocked a stomp from Claudio, he then took him down with a lariat. Moxley however received a tag and stood in Kingston’s way, preventing the War King from tagging out. The two of them ended up knocking each other out with stereo clotheslines, with Kingston tagging in Ishii when he could. We got to see Ishii and Claudio resume their battle from “Dominion”, with the Stone Pitbull dropping Claudio with a brainbuster. The Bucks held Takeshita in place on the ring apron so Page could send him to the floor with a running shooting star press. The Elite triple team Takeshita, but the Bucks end up missing the BTE Trigger and Takeshita German suplexes them at the same time. The Bucks wipe out Takeshita, Umino, and Claudio with double superkicks, and accidentally nail Kingston when he intentionally moves Moxley out of the way. Commentary says Kingston is conflicted, I say stupid. This move enables The BCC and crew to take back control of the match. As the match broke down, Kingston wiped out Claudio with a Backfist, and Moxley had no problem dropping him with an Ace Crusher after the fact. This did however leave him open for a double superkick. Yuta countered Page’s Buckshot Lariat with a German suplex, but it left him open for a Sliding D and lariat from Ishii. The vertical drop brainbuster then scored Ishii the pin on Yuta at 21:29. When you ground a big, fun multi-man match with a hard story, it makes it all the better, and that’s what we had with this match. The match was really about three people, and to the credit of the other seven contestants, they seemed perfectly content making them the focal point. Everybody else had their own contributions: The Elite and Takeshita had some interesting interactions, Ishii got the pin, and Umino was sadly an afterthought. As much as I don’t like Kingston taking a bullet for Moxley, the payoff that occurred moments later from that moment was well done. The Blood and Guts match should be a hoot, but it is a shame Kingston won’t be involved. ****

AEW Women’s World Championship
Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale

Storm has been champion since 5.28.2023 and this is her second defense. Saraya and Ruby Soho are in Storm’s corner. Willow wrecks Storm early on, almost pinning her with a tornado clutch, and then sending her to the floor with a shotgun dropkick. Willow decides to neutralize Soho and Saraya herself when they confront her on the outside, but when Storm surprises her with a hip attack to knock her to the floor, Saraya and Soho put the boots to her. When Willow takes down Storm with a boot, Storm rolls to the apron so she can snap Willow’s neck on the top rope. This choice backfires for Storm, as Willow gives her a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron. A second one inside of the ring gets Willow a two count. Referee Stephon Smith decides to finally eject Soho and Saraya when he catches them rolling a spray paint can in the ring. Willow sits down on Storm to escape the Storm Zero and clobbers her with a lariat. Willow misses a moonsault, and Storm capitalizes with a pair of DDT’s and a hip attack. Willow comes back with a spinebuster and puts Willow in an Indian Death Lock. Storm has to bite Willow’s knee to escape, but Willow is able to counter her hip attack with a Pounce. Storm pulls the referee into the way to block a hip attack from Willow. She digs her fingers into Willow’s eyes and spikes her with the Storm Zero for the pin at 10:27. I feel Willow has really stepped up her game since becoming champion. She’s incorporated new offense in her arsenal, and carries herself with a poise befitting a champion. She also was in control for a significant good chunk of this match, which I think shows how well AEW and New Japan think of her. I like Toni Storm a lot, but her current role I don’t think allows for her to bring out her best. Good match overall, and an especially excellent showing for Willow. **¾

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay

Omega has been champion since 1.4.2023 and this is his second defense. This is of course a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 17, where Omega defeated Ospreay in what is considered by many to be the best match of 2023 so far (myself included). Since that match, Don Callis has disassociated from Omega, and is cornering Ospreay in this bout. While Omega was entering Ospreay’s home turf back in January, Ospreay not only is entering an AEW ring to try and win back his title, but is also in Omega’s home country of Canada. Callis was ejected from ringside early on when referee Paul Turner caught him grabbing Omega’s foot to prevent him from diving onto Ospreay. Callis’ interjection gave Ospreay the opportunity to take over the match, focusing his attack on Omega’s back and left knee. Omega exploited Ospreay’s previous kidney injury in their last match, and did the same by punting Ospreay in the ribs after taking him down with a Kotaro Krusher. Ospreay fought through the pain to pull off a shooting star press to Omega’s back, as well as the OsCutter on the apron. Ospreay then also threw Omega’s head multiple times into the announcer’s table, reminding Omega of the similar treatment he gave Ospreay back in January at the Tokyo Dome. Ospreay would continue to pummel the now bloody Omega in the ring. When he noticed Omega’s blood on his bicep, Ospreay licked it off, and when the fans chanted “you sick f*ck”, he simply mouthed “I am” back at them. Ospreay utilized Omega’s own V-Trigger against him before antagonizing some of the ringside fans, including sticking one fan’s Canadian flag up his nose and rubbing it on his crotch and taint. Not only does Omega make Ospreay pay for the transgression by Beeleing him across the ring using the flag, but also sends his head crashing into the barricades with a V-Trigger. Omega busted Ospreay open by slamming his head into the steel steps repeatedly, and punctuated the attack with a DDT onto the steps before bringing him back into the ring. They fight back and forth, ending with Ospreay taking down Omega with a Spanish Fly for two. Omega fights through both a sharpshooter and crossface, and even in his weakened state, Omega had the wherewithal to knee strike Ospreay in the head out of mid-air to block an oncoming OsCutter.

From there, Omega targeted Ospreay’s neck, utilizing a combination of suplexes, strikes, and a snap piledriver to wear him down. When Omega set him up on the top turnbuckle, Ospreay slipped out from underneath and sent him to the floor with a Cheeky Nando’s Kick. Ospreay followed up with a Sky Twister Press. He does some damage of his own to Omega’s neck, and while Omega ducks the Hidden Blade, Ospreay manages to plant him with a Liger Bomb. Ospreay connected with a super OsCutter, and when Omega kicked out, he went for the StormBreaker, which Omega escaped using a version of the Air Raid Crash. At this point, Don Callis came back to ringside to encourage Ospreay. Omega knees Ospreay in the head twice, and then points to Callis before delivering a running knee to the challenger. Callis lept to the apron and held onto Ospreay, pleading with Omega not to hit him with the V-Trigger, which Omega ignored. Referee Paul Turner got between Callis and Omega, and while Turner was in a position not to see Callis, Callis handed Ospreay a screwdriver behind his back. Ospreay stabbed Omega in the eye with it to escape the One-Winged Angel, and then hit both the Hidden Blade and the StormBreaker. Omega amazingly got his foot on the ropes at the last second before a three count was made. The incredulous Ospreay uses Omega’s own V-Trigger and One-Winged Angel against him. This slight resulted in such a deep offense that Omega kicked out of the subsequent pin at one. Omega busted out the Croyt’s Wrath for two and nailed yet another V-Trigger. Ospreay escaped the One-Winged Angel, and when Omega tried a ripcord V-Trigger, Ospreay countered with a Hidden Blade. He dropped Omega with the Tiger Driver ‘91, which Omega also kicked out of. Omega was in a heap as Ospreay positioned himself in the corner. When Omega sat up, Ospreay blasted him with the Hidden Blade and landed another StormBreaker to get the pin and win back the title at 39:50.

When the Wrestle Kingdom match ended, Ospreay discussed how it felt like between losing the G1 Finals and then to Omega at Wrestle Kingdom, he had lost everything. He mentioned possibly exiting New Japan at the end of the year if his situation did not improve. Defeating Omega and re-gaining the IWGP U.S. Title was the first step in gaining back what he felt he lost. Now it feels as if Omega is in a similar situation. Don Callis abandoned him last month. Yuta pinned him in the Anarchy in the Arena match a few weeks after that. Now, he’s lost the IWGP United States championship, in his home country no less. Omega is as close to the bottom as he has been in quite some time and his journey back will be an interesting one to follow. I prefer the first match as it was a bit more cerebral, had a lot of the competitors’ New Japan history baked into it, had no outside interference, and there is an argument to be made that they went overboard with the kickouts. That said, this was one hell of a follow-up to their instant classic in Tokyo. ****¼

Sting, Darby Allin & Tetsuya Naito vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara) & Minoru Suzuki

Boy did these guys have a hell of a match to follow. The match revolved around Sting and Jericho meeting for the first time, which I imagine is cool for somebody out there. This match was slow and really messy, which isn’t terribly surprising given the ages and physical states of the people involved. What I’ll remember most from this match is Guevara smashing Sting through a table with a 630 splash, in a manner that looked like all of Sammy’s weight crushed him. It was maybe a minute later Sting was back in the ring putting Jericho in the Scorpion Death Lock. Naito saved Sting from Suzuki’s GSP and kicked out of Jericho’s Code Breaker, and Sting saved Naito from Suzuki’s sleeper hold. Naito then gave Suzuki a Manhattan Drop, Sting shoulder blocked him down, and Naito pinned Suzuki with a jackknife pin at 15:09. Way too long for what was, at its core, a novelty match featuring several people past their physical prime. **

Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada

Danielson came out to “The Final Countdown” and it almost made me want to stop writing, throw five stars on this, and call it a day. In some ways, this was a better version of Rock vs. Hogan, in that the mere aura of these two competitors and the crowd’s response made the match what it was. Truthfully, they kept the match fairly basic. Danielson worked over Okada’s shoulder nearly the entire match while Okada fought from behind and looked to take out Danielson with the Rainmaker. Okada gave Danielson a tombstone piledriver on the entrance ramp and followed up with an elbow strike back in the ring, and when he looked for the Rainmaker, Danelson was dead weight. He began convulsing and it looked like a referee stoppage was imminent, but Okada pulled him up anyways, and Danielson surprised him with a Busaiku Knee. It was here when Danielson began to nurse his right arm. We’d discover later that he wrestled the final ten minutes of the match with a broken arm, which is insane. Also surprising was that Danielson both kicked out of the Rainmaker, but then also submitted Okada by hyperextending Okada’s right arm, pushing it with his foot so that his shoulder blades almost touched each other until he verbally gave up at 27:47. I was surprised that Okada lost, fully expecting him to pin Danielson who isn’t heavily protected by AEW and far from the championship picture. Maybe a more apt comparison for this bout would be the last match between Bryan and Nigel in 2009 where they more or less played their greatest hits and the crowd appreciated the match simply for existing. It’s neat that this match happened at all, but you have to wonder what this would’ve looked like ten years earlier – or even just without Danielson’s arm injury – and in front of a crowd who had watched nearly five hours of wrestling beforehand. ***¾

Forbidden Door 2023 had a more tantalizing card than the first offering, and I think the highs were higher on this show as well, but this was less consistent and more of a slog. I recommend the show, but I also recommend watching it in multiple sittings.