5:00 pm CST. Chicago, Illinois.
Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi’s faces- blown up to mass proportions- grace the front of the United Center.
The line is long enough to wrap around the entire arena at least five times.
The energy is strong enough to power the whole city of Chicago.
Months, years really, of anticipation got us to this moment.
This? Oh yeah. This is gonna be one for the ages.
My first introduction to New Japan Pro Wrestling was in 2019. I was amongst the other American fans waking up at the ass crack of dawn to watch the G1 Climax live. I was obviously hooked very instantly, but what I remember most from that summer was the peace I felt getting up and watching the shows. The feeling of being the only one awake in my house, no one was yelling no one was fighting, it was just me, my coffee, a box of Frosted Flakes, and some wrestling. It was like the calm before the storm so to speak. It was peaceful, I was happy.
Flash forward to today and it’s once again the ass crack of dawn and I’m once again the only one awake, except I never went to sleep in the first place and I’m in a hotel room in Chicago writing this article on a NJPW and AEW cross-over super show that always felt just out of reach but that I just witnessed live and in person.
Huh that’s pretty crazy.
Despite the unfortunate slew of injuries forcing multiple card changes, Forbidden Door managed to showcase the biggest stars from both AEW and NJPW.
Every. Single. Match. Delivered.
Being in the audience was truly the most exhausting thing I’ve ever experienced. The energy didn’t dip a single time during the night. I’d be sitting there thinking I couldn’t yell louder or be more excited and then the next match would start and my previous emotions would be topped and topped again. Being a part of an audience of around 16,000 people- all of whom were collectively losing their minds the entire night- was the best feeling.
I could list my favorite moments but I’d end up talking about the whole show so here’s a rundown of the card:
The Buy In:
Aaron Solo and QT Marshall vs Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi
Winners: Yoshi-Hashi and Goto
Lance Archer vs Nick Comoroto
Winner: Lance Archer
Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado
Winners: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland
Max Caster and the Gunn Club vs Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, The DKC and Kevin Knight
Winners: Max Caster and the Gunn Club
The Main Card:
Jericho Appreciation Society and Minoru Suzuki vs Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta, and Shota Umino
Winners: Jericho Appreciation Society and Minoru Suzuki
Winner Takes All: FTR vs United Empire vs Rappongi Vice
Winners: FTR
AEW All Atlantic Championship: Miro vs Malakai Black vs Pac vs Clark Conners
Winner and new All Atlantic Champion: Pac
The Bullet Club vs Dudes with Attitudes
Winners: The Bullet Club
AEW Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa vs Toni Storm
Winner and still AEW Women’s Champion: Thunder Rosa
IWGP United States Championship: Will Ospreay vs Orange Cassidy
Winner and still IWGP United States Champion: Will Ospreay
Zack Sabre Jr vs… wait for it….. wait for it… CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winner: CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Adam Cole vs Hangman Adam Page vs Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada
Winner and still IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Jay White
AEW Interim World Championship: Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Winner and AEW Interim Champion: Jon Moxley
*insert screaming noises here*
This is where I’m supposed to get down on my knees and beg you to go out of your way to watch a certain match of the night except I can’t pick just one or two matches, they’re all must-see. Sorry not sorry.
No seriously, this pay-per-view was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced and it sucks that there’s wrestling fans who spent the night complaining or boasting how they wouldn’t watch this show who missed out on a whole lot of fun and some damn good wrestling.
For me personally, top moments of the night include Claudio Castagnoli’s debut, the Eddie/Yuta/Shota tag team, Orange Cassidy, and of course Mox vs Tanahashi (more on that in a minute). Seeing Minoru Suzuki live is always a pleasure, although having Jericho and Suzuki come out back to back was not good for my lungs. And again I say I can’t pick just a handful of favorite moments. It’s the entire show for me.
Did Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi actually happen? I’ve pinched myself to the point of bruising, opened and shut my eyes tight, rewatched the match, looked at my very blurry pictures, and Googled the results… all signs point to yes this match actually happened. But I still can’t believe it! I was almost waiting for something to happen that would throw this match on the back burner once again. That something never came. Even as Mox was making his way to the ring, “Wild Thing,” blasting out the speakers and passing through my already hoarse throat, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it when Justin Roberts and Takuro Shibata were belting out JONNNNNN MOXLEYYYY and HIROSHIIII TANAHAAAASHII. I didn’t believe it when I woke up this morning.
I’ve never been so in the moment of anything.
I’m such a fucking sucker for a dream match. My two least favorite wrestlers in the world could be wrestling each other but if they called it a dream match I’d be watching. But these weren’t my least favorite wrestlers. Mox and Tana are two of the best wrestlers to watch. My eyes were glued to that ring. Three years of build up is a lot to live up to. They went above and beyond.
There’s a Tik-Tok going around (yeah, yeah I know) where there’s girl is at a concert and she has tears in her eyes and the text says “When the concert starts and you realize the only thing you’ve been looking forward to for months is literally gonna be over in the next hour.” It sums up my night in the United Center pretty well actually. Except I was enjoying myself so much I wasn’t thinking about the show ending and having to leave. I’ve been fortunate enough to go to some pretty incredible shows but no show I could ever go to for the rest of my life will ever touch this. I’ll always have such a soft spot for this show- this show I wanted to go to from the minute it was announced, this show I didn’t think I was going to make it to. It was one of those nights where the only thing I could think of was how much I love wrestling. It was a night I’ll remember forever and it’s a night I already miss more than anything. For what it’s worth I’m glad that silly little door got opened.
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