It’s almost here.
The first-ever All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling cross-promotional Supershow, Forbidden Door, is THIS SUNDAY. The card felt a little barren up until this week. I can’t imagine the logistical nightmare of coordinating a monster show like that. There were rumors abound about who was and wasn’t backstage at Dynamite this week. The go-home show for Forbidden Door was more about getting everything ready for the biggest New Japan show on American soil.
This week’s card saw Will Ospreay in action, the final All-American qualifying match, and the one and only Hiroshi Tanahashi in action as well! Did this week’s episode raise the masses anticipation level for Forbidden Door? Or is everyone still sleeping on New Japan and All Elite Wrestling (for some reason)?
Let’ find out!
A little different feel this week to start Dynamite, as Bryan Danielson came out to address his immediate future. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the American Dragon. He was injured at Double or Nothing and unfortunately cannot compete at Forbidden Door or Blood and Guts. Even though he brought bad news, he still had good news. He’s in perfect health, despite not being cleared for the next little while, and found a perfect replacement to face Zack Sabre Jr at Forbidden Door! Hooray for Pay Per View surprises!!! Time to speculate.
I forgot to mention that Danielson referred to the JAS as “Jericho and his flaccid crew of Cocksmen.” I’m not proud of the amount of laughter that line caused.
Will Ospreay & Aussie Open vs. Orange Cassidy & Roppongi Vice
Up next was a Forbidden Door preview between Will Ospreay and Aussie Open taking on the returning Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice. This match was the perfect appetizer to whet our appetites for Sunday. New Japan and AEW both coordinate perfect multi-man matches, as this one was.
The story of this match revolved around Orange Cassidy’s first action since his injury. It was like ‘Freshly Squeezed’ never left, as the crowd was on fire for any interaction between him and Will Ospreay. Both teams held an advantage during separate parts of the match, but I’d like to highlight Aussie Open. They are awesome. I love their blend of strength and athleticism. Excited to see what they do on Sunday. That Tag Team Triple Threat could easily steal the show.
Eventually, the pace slowed way down and then inevitably sped back up. It was move after move after move and impossible to keep up. Orange Cassidy was able to hit the Orange Punch to pick up the victory in his first match back. That was a really fun match!
3.25/5
The IWGP Heavyweight champs, Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan, came to the ring to support their United Empire teammates. FTR comes to help with a possible brawl, but everyone stared at each other instead.
- A quick interlude promo followed all of that. Jay Lethal, Dutt, and Singh are backstage and are sick of waiting for Samoa Joe to get healthy. Jay Lethal wants Samoa Joe to vacate the RoH TV title or it reverts to him. Cool. I’m not going to lie: I don’t really care what happens to the Ring of Honor title right now. Us fans are expected to care about it, but I just don’t. There are so many titles on Dynamite right now that it dilutes the importance of a lot of them. I’ll be happy when Ring of Honor gets their own show.
Christian Cage address
Up next, Schiavone called Christian Cage to the ring to answer for his vicious attack on Jungle Boy last week. Bad guy Christian Cage was ruthless in this segment! I assume this version of Christian popped up in TNA at one point. TNA was difficult to watch for me when it was popular, but I’ll have to go back and check out some clips. I need every ounce of this Christian pumped directly into my veins.
The reason for his attack on Jungle Boy is amazing storytelling. Jungle Boy the Casino Battle Royale last year at Double or Nothing by eliminating Christian Cage at the end. What we fans were led to believe was that Christian respected the young Jungle Boy, which led to Christian mentoring Jurassic Express. Apparently, Christian held a grudge for over a year, rode the tag champ’s coattails, and struck when Jungle Boy was at his weakest. He also called out Jungle Boy’s father, Luke Perry, who passed away two years ago:
“I never wanted to be your father figure. But you have a father, and he’s dead. He’d be ashamed and embarrassed.”
Wow. My mouth dropped to the floor.
After a while, Luchasaurus had heard enough. The Dinosaur with a Master’s degree attempted murder on Cage, but the wily veteran had a card up his sleeve. For some reason, Cage and Luchasaurus might be working together? I’m so invested in this story. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
All Atlantic Qualifying match: Penta Oscuro vs. Malakai Black
Up next was a match between two of my favorites in all of Pro Wrestling. Malakai Black and Penta Oscuro were vying for the last spot in the All Atlantic Championship 4-way at Forbidden Door. I missed that Tomohiro Ishii qualified from the New Japan section. That should be fun! This match was also fun!
The match started high octane immediately. Penta hit a tope con hiro and landed hard on his back, which affected him for the whole match. Malakai spent most of the match targeting that injured back. This was a hard-hitting match with Penta throwing everything he could at Malakai, except he couldn’t lift Malakai for the Fear Factor Piledriver due to his back. Unfortunately for Malakai, Penta didn’t need to lift him up to hit an Avalanche Fear Factor Piledriver from the top rope! Absolutely bonkers move to hit! It should have ended the match right there, but Penta’s back prevented him from making the cover! Malakai was able to withstand the onslaught of Penta and hit the back heel kick for the victory.
I really enjoyed this match. Penta and Malakai told an awesome match story revolving around Penta’s back. Two thumbs up from me!
3.5/5
Hangman Adam Page vs. Silas Young
We had a very interesting bout up next, with former champ Hangman Adam Page taking on Silas Young. Granted, this match was out of left field, but I still enjoyed this one. Hangman and Silas had history back in Ring of Honor, which gave this match a little more story to tell than just a random one.
Adam Cole graced us with his presence on Commentary as the bout began. Hangman was on full display here. The former champ showed Silas that he’s way better than when he was in Ring of Honor. Every single time Silas gained any sort of momentum, Page would simply overcome. Props to Silas, though. I did not expect him to be as athletic as he was. I haven’t seen much of the ‘Last Real Man,’ but this match made me want to go research. His offense was impressive.
Silas took over a little towards the end, but Hangman inevitably finished the match with the Buckshot. I’m happy the former champ has strung together a couple of wins after losing the AEW title. This was a simple match with nothing wrong with it. Can’t complain about that.
3.25/5
Segments:
- Adam Cole didn’t allow Hangman any winning celebration, as he immediately starts berating the former champ. Jay White interrupts Cole to apologize for being so dismissive last week, but still isn’t giving Cole a championship match. Jay and Cole attack Hangman, but one person has something to say about it: Kazuchika Okada on AEW Dynamite!!! The crowd exploded after the coin dropped! Hangman and Okada teamed up to take out Jay and Cole. We’re getting a Fatal Four Way for the IWGP Heavyweight title!
- Red Velvet was unfortunately injured, which means there’s an opening in the Baddies! I’ll prep my application!
- Statlander and Athena were backstage right afterwards to mock Jade and the Baddies. This was so funny. I really like how Statlander and Athena play off each other.
Marina Shafir vs. Toni Storm
Up next we had Marina Shafir trying to get a little payback on Toni Storm after Toni prevented her from beating up Thunder Rosa two weeks ago. Nyla Rose came out with Marina Shafir, which is an interesting pairing that I kind of like. Marina seems to be the silent killer, but Nyla is loud, boisterous, and a powerhouse. That might just be a great pairing! I’m also happy to see Nyla Rose again. Marina’s music needs to change though…
Marina started the match using her MMA technical abilities to overwhelm Storm. Nyla was ringside, which meant that she was inevitably getting involved. Marina looked really good in this one! Both ladies worked well together here. ‘The Problem’ has a unique offense that could be really devastating with more ring time.
Marina held the advantage for awhile until Toni turned it around with a headbutt and her vicious Hip Attack. The #1 contender snuck a rollup pinfall onto Shafir for the victory. This obviously angered Nyla Rose, who attacked after the bell. Thunder Rosa came down for the save and they stared at each other. Not a bad match at all! I enjoyed it.
3/5
Jericho & Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley & Hiroshi Tanahashi
And finally, we got to the main event. This tag team match was a big deal because The Ace was on national television. The American audience was privileged to see that glorious hair! He teamed up with his Forbidden Door opponent, Jon Moxley, to take on Chris Jericho and Lance Archer in a good main event tag match. I enjoyed this one.
The craziness starts immediately as all four men start brawling. The pace eventually slows down and we see quintessential isolation from both sides. Sammy Guevara, at ringside, couldn’t help his dastardly self in getting involved to help Jericho. This match was all about Hiroshi Tanahashi, and rightfully so. You need to establish his greatness on free television before the pay per view on Sunday.
This match wasn’t anything crazy, but it was a great tag match to close out a good Dynamite. Moxley and Tanahashi worked well together. The match ended as Moxley hit the Paradigm Shift and Tanahashi finished it with his big splash for the pinfall. I enjoyed that one! Getting to see Tanahashi in action immediately garners Match of the Night.
3.75/5
Match of the Night
We weren’t done, however, as Eddie Kingston started a brawl with Jericho immediately following the match. Absolute pandemonium ensued as everyone involved in Forbidden Door and Blood and Guts beat the crap out of each other. What made this weird was that Tanahashi and Moxley just stared at each other inside the ring. I guess the possibility of AEW gold meant more to Moxley than brawling. This ending was weird, but I loved the match itself.
OVERALL
And that was it for Dynamite this week! The ‘go-home’ show for Forbidden Door did a pretty good job of hyping me up for this Sunday. I was already buying the PPV, but it needed some star power. Adding the matches they did was key. Getting the Young Bucks, Darby, Sting, Okada, Jay White, and the possibility of a surprise sent Forbidden Door home as a must-watch for me.
Tonight’s Dynamite, whilst succeeding as a hype builder for Forbidden Door, didn’t stand on its own two feet as a show. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but the best thing of the night was by far the Christian promo. Everything else was simply ‘good.’ All Elite Wrestling Dynamite is never bad. They just live on the scale of Good to Perfect. This week’s episdoe lived closer to the ‘Good’ side.
Verdict: 3.5/5