Forbidden Door is right around the corner! This Sunday, New Japan Pro Wrestling clashes against All Elite Wrestling in the second edition of the newly minted PPV. AEW is on top of the wrestling mountain right now with so many good things happening concurrently. Collision just had a good debut, Dynamite has been on a roll, and Forbidden Door could be one of the best PPVs ever produced!
Is that hyperbole? Possibly. But the show could easily win PPV of the year and be the best show AEW has ever done.
But that’s in the not-so-distant future. We have to get there first! How did AEW Dynamite set everything up for Forbidden Door?
Let’s talk about it!
The Hardys vs. The Gunns

The first match of the evening was a battle of brother tag teams. It wasn’t until commentary ran down a list of brother tag teams in AEW that I realized just how many there are. The Gunns, Hardys, Jacksons, Lucha Bros, and Top Flight are all brothers and very good teams. Sometimes it just runs in the family.
This match was pretty good! Much better showing for Jeff Hardy in this one. He looked a lot smoother in the ring than in his previous match at Double or Nothing. We got all the quintessential Hardy signatures — Whisper in the Wind, leg drop, and Twist of Fate.
But the Gunns are still good at this tag team stuff. They tried to find every shortcut they could in this one. Including having outside help. Bullet Club Gold helped the Gunns hit the 310 to Yuma to pick up the victory. A little return of the favor from Bullet Club. Good match!
3.25/5
Jay and Juice attacked the Hardys after the match, but that was not the end of the angle. A lot of chaos unused after that! Ricky Starks, FTR, and then CM Punk all tried their hands at attacking Bullet Club and Gunn Club. This was a fun angle that sets up an 8-man tag match for Collision.
Concession Stand Brawl: Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe

If there was one theme of this week’s episode of Dynamite, it would be chaos. Nothing on this episode encapsulated that theme more than the concession stand brawl between Jeff Jarrett and Mark Briscoe. Technically those were the contestants actually in the match, except twenty other people participated in it. Don’t even think that’s an exaggeration.
The match started in the concessions with food and fans surrounding them. It didn’t last very long in the concessions, however. They brawled in the crowd and finally made it to the ring where everyone and their brother decided to interfere here.
It was a silly match that was everything it should have been expected to be. A slight knock on it being called a concession brawl and not staying in the concessions. Sports Entertainment at its finest. Mark Briscoe emerged on top in a wild match.
2.75/5
- An amazing Blackpool Combat Club promo followed that. Moxley challenged the Elite to a 5 on 5 at Forbidden Door, while Bryan Danielson calls Okada an amateur and coward. This was intense and fantastic. Danielson was scheduled to call out Okada later on in the evening.
- Up next was a Collision recap. More of this please! Have Dynamite recaps on Collision too!
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, & Minoru Suzuki vs. Action Andretti, AR Fox, & Darius Martin

Up next was our first Forbidden Door preview with the team of Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki taking on the upstairs of Action Andretti, AR Fox, and Darius Martin. Suzuki with Jericho evokes so much joy as they do the simplest things, like make fun of Sammy Guevara in the picture above.
The match itself was very good too. It revolved around Suzuki teaching the younger team a lesson: don’t mess with the Murder Grampa. There was also a small side story that totally wasn’t the main story about Jericho and Sammy getting on the same page. Guevara started not seeing eye to eye with Jericho but ended the match helping out.
Despite AR Fox and Action Andretti building momentum, it all came back to Suzuki and Jericho. Eventually, Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer to submit Darius Martin for the win. This was a fantastic match.
4/5
Segments:
- Renee Paquette joined the winners in the ring following the match. She wanted to ask Jericho about last week’s interaction with Sting. It was surprisingly the first time that Sting and Jericho had ever crossed paths, which is insane to think about. Jericho called Sting a whore for jumping from one big company to another over the years. Jericho then challenges Sting and Darby to find a partner for Forbidden Door this Sunday.
- Tony Schiavone and RJ City were backstage and picking names for the blind tag tournament. They didn’t say who the first two names were but did say that the bracket will be announced next week. This felt pointless until about ten minutes after it.
- The Elite were backstage discussing the BCC’s challenge and how difficult it would be in being down two men. Eddie Kingston comes out of nowhere to join the team and makes the executive decision to pick the fifth member.
- Adam Cole made his way to the ring and told a quick recap of last week’s draw with MJF. The champ then arrived to deny said match, to absolutely nobody’s surprise. Tony Schiavone then picked that exact moment to interrupt and tell them that they were now a tag team in the blind tournament. That’s such a cool thing, and so unexpected. And to make things even crazier, Hiroshi Tanahashi popped up out of nowhere to rechallenge MJF. The champ immediately denied it, but Adam Cole tricked his newfound partner into taking the match. I love these two together. Cole 2-MJF 0.
- The Owen Hart tournament bracket was announced and looks great.
Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr & Daniel Garcia

Up next was another Forbidden Door preview with a tag match between Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata taking on Zack Sabre Jr and Daniel Garcia. Everyone had an interest in Cassidy’s International Championship last week, except Cassidy made this tag match instead. This was a good match with a surprising ending.
Three of the four people in this match are technical savants, so this match was a little slow to get going; submissions and transitions for days. We had the usual Cassidy character shine through with a hilarious mockery of Daniel Garcia’s weird dancing.
But the ending was truly what shined in this match. The pace quickened with move after move after move, but everything ended after Shibata held Daniel Garcia for Orange Cassidy, who was lining up an Orange Punch. Garcia ducked the punch as Cassidy hit Shibata with it, and then rolled Shibata up for the victory. ZSJ, meanwhile, had prevented Cassidy from breaking it up with a Heel Hook. Very good stuff right there.
3.5/5
After the match, a 4-way International Championship was confirmed for Forbidden Door. Awesome!
Segments:
- Alex Marvez was backstage to find Will Ospreay. Don Callis also found Ospreay and offered private security. Callis has something significant up his grimy sleeve.
- Willow Nightingale challenging Toni Storm for the AEW Championship at Forbidden Door. Awesome.
TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie

The new workhorse of the women’s division, Kris Statlander, was in action once again. She defended her TBS Championship against Taya Valkyrie in a wonderful match. Taya had been watching and brooding from afar after Statlander stole the spotlight from a great match between Taya and Jade at Double or Nothing. This was Taya’s chance against the champ and, while putting on a good show, still came up short.
Both ladies tried to outmuscle one another with big move after big move. They traded advantage back and forth throughout the match until Taya attempted a top rope maneuver. Statlander took advantage with a superplex and newly named Wednesday Night Fever for the win. This was a great match! Hopefully, Taya gets more opportunities and screen time. She’s great!
3.5/5
- The “main event” was not a match, but a segment that started with Eddie Kingston wanting to introduce the fifth man for his team in the Forbidden Door 10-man. Moxley had something to say to his former friend, thus he interrupted Eddie for an incredibly intense face-off. They didn’t have time for anything more but a tease as Tomohiro Ishii was introduced as the 5th man. This started a chain of events that led to Danielson and Okada standing eye to eye. AEW closed Dynamite with another great segment. The transitions are impeccable!
OVERALL
And that was the last episode of AEW Dynamite before Forbidden Door this Sunday! What did you think!? Let me know on Twitter!
All Elite Wrestling is on fire right now. They have a lot going on and are keeping things fresh and fun. This episode was awesome from start to finish. It started chaotic in the best way and finished as such. Dynamite has embraced the chaos these past two weeks and I’m here for it.
Verdict: 4.25/5