Perhaps the clue was in the name: outside of the world of wrestling, where the term’s become synonymous with AEW’s willingness to do crossover stuff with other promotions and let their talent work non-AEW shows, “forbidden door” would suggest something cursed, and this crossover PPV with New Japan certainly seems to be snakebit. A cluster of injuries in both companies’ rosters means that the card has had to be changed extensively, though on the bright side if you’re going to need to take time off to recover for an injury, missing a PPV where there’ll be two entire companies’ rosters to draw from is probably the time to do it.

Still, if this isn’t the pay-per-view Tony Khan and the NJPW management imagined, it’s ended up being one of the more unusual cards offered up by a major promotion for quite some time, so let’s see how it goes…

A little note on methodology: I do these little reaction articles while I am watching the PPV live. I may miss stuff. Because of time zones, by the end I may be a bit sleepy – or have actually fallen asleep – which would tend to be a sign of a poor show.

Continue reading “TV Party Tonight!: AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door” →