A Slightly more Forbidden Door (2026)

Last year's show left me a bit tore up and like the concept of 'Forbidden Door' was lost. This year? Quality was great and Cross-over stuff was... Better. Realistically, NJPW has less to offer than it did when this event started. Stardom has a lot to offer, but not in the ways AEW needs. Even then, neither gain that much by sharing their best talent. This isn't the tight collaboration the first show started as, but it's less of a farce than last year.

Some random notes.

• I didn't watch the preshow but people were hype of Maika apparently. Those people are correct.
• Even in a 'take a day off PPV match' with Zack, Kenny worked his ass off.
• Shota Umino is this tragic intersection of 'Wanting to be the Guy' and 'Not being the Guy'. Dude took the sickest fucking table spot. He WANTS it, he's just missing IT, and it's the type of IT you generally can't learn.
• There are apparently a whole bunch of Fanfics for team Old Man Yaoi.
• Everything was pretty good, even if I don't have strong enough feelings to write anything

Starlight Kids vs Thekla for the AEW Women's Championship

I love Kid. I've watched her go from a high flying potato to a real human being with her own unique style. I adore Thekla, who is probably the person for whom the move to America has been best for on an Artistic level. This match was loved by a lot of people but I felt kinda low on it.

I've seen too many super good Kid singles matches and this match sits in a weird uncanny valley. Two wrestlers with prior experience are now wrestling under a totally different context. It would almost have worked better if Thekla and Kid never wrestled before. Instead there was this weird blend of stuff that didn't seem to quite work in the building and really Americanized stuff and it was really good, but weird. Honestly I have to look at me giving SLK vs Rina 4 stars during the 5-Star and ask... Was this match better than that?

Despite my policy to not review 3ish star matches, no.

Maya World vs Mercedes Mone for the womens Owen Hart Finals

Like everyone I wish Maya won. I'm so shocked a sub ended up almost winning and being in the PPV, but the circumstance made it make sense, and she was more than ready.

My favorite thing about Mercedes is she's messy. She's not a 'clean' wrestler. Clean, crisp, perfect? That shit looks fake. I was totally bought into her attempted powerbombs were a "botch" until she ran back and hit a sunset flip. She makes things feel believable. The thing that makes her one of the best is the thing her detractors point at to show 'she's not actually that good'.

Can't say much on Maya yet. Obviously she did great, but in isolation it's hard for me to have a read on her yet outside of 'obviously very good'. Her inherent qualities hasn't risen up in my mind yet. Hopefully they have followthrough for this.

The Big Fuck You Steel Cage Match

This is not the type of match I usually give 5 stars too. I'm boring. A 5 star match is a sober singles match and preferrably someone bleeds or cries. A one-on-one affair with fluids. This? This was just fun.

I'm not big on comedy, and it's generally not what I want on a PPV. Yet this match managed to perfectly balance sicko shit, shticks, and serious emotional wrestling all in one package. This was a nutritionally complete object. This felt like some shit WWE would do where it would devolve into a clownshow, but the difference here is guys like Leo Rush can WORK.

The match didn't sacrifice an part of itself for the humor, it just had comedy in ADDITION to everything else. I could riff on the fact 'people already treat the OG NES controller like it's covered in barbed wire' forever (also it's a fine, it's just simple!!). The Okada/Takeshita middle finger spot was perfect.

A delicious sampler platter where half the wrestlers are wearing what are basically Cho-Aniki shirts. A perfect "fun" match.

Will Ospreay vs Swerve Strickland for the mens Owen Hart Finals

I love hating on Ospreay. Don't get me wrong, he's one of my favorite wrestlers, but he's such a corny goober. My friends were over watching in the living room, but we were streaming off a discord call. Mostly the VC was quiet, but when Ospreay revealed his Bane mask, one of the people in the call, CWheezy sadly muttered "... Oh William," in the tone of a disappointed mother so perfectly, everyone just lost it. I almost thought it was Tony Schiavone or someone at first.

Sorry Will, you aren't cool or hard enough to be Bane, even when Bane isn't even that cool to begin with.

He might not be cool, but he's still one of the best wrestlers in the world. He can wrestle any style given the right opponent! Yet he seems to have a hard time actually changing his style in a vacuum, without someone in the ring to remind him. Dark and Edgy Ospreay, for the most part, is just Ospreay in black gear.

While this match wasn't a "Hangman's aura completely changing when he goes heel" level of performance, the man finally allowed himself to be a Bastard, while wrestling one of the best Bastards there is (sorry, PAC). Hell, maybe that's why he could finally deliver, in the same way he can wrestle technical matches vs ZSJ. Swerve is there to keep dragging Ospreay into the dirt. Once dirty, the man rolled around the mud like a bleeding pig.

Swerve of course was great. He always is. AND cooler than Lobo. Still the wrongest HHH has ever been about a talent. Putting Swerve next to Ospreay is like a coolness multiplier. You need to be reminded how low the coolness bar is. It's like putting Andre the Giant next to a man who is 5'10.

Great action, copious blood and finally Ospreay showing us he's willing to be a nasty wet man to get what he wants. I have my quibbles due to my own personal taste but like fuck man, they killed each other and it was great.