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AEW

‘AEW Forbidden Door’: Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega In a Classic, Jack Perry Turns Heel, Bryan Danielson Fractures Forearm In Win

Photo: Steve Argintaru

Sunday night’s 4 hour AEW Forbidden Door live from Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, not only featured a red hot crowd, but some of the best wrestling matches we have seen in a long time as the biggest stars from AEW faced off, and with, many of the biggest stars of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

While this was the second year of Forbidden Door, this one far exceeded last year’s version.  In fact, it turned out to be: AEW’S biggest live gate, the third largest ever in Canada and in North America for a non-WWE premium live event.  Reports estimate the gate was over 1.2 million. U.S. dollars.

In terms of key matches, what went down and pure excitement, here is what stood out among the rest.   At the top of our list was the epic battle between Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega for the IGWP US Championship. Going in to the match, Omega held the title that he won from Ospreay back in January at the Tokyo Dome.

Photo: AEW

For sheer storytelling, and the agony and ecstacy of it all, this match had it in spades including: Ospreay hating on Canada and defiling their flag, paying back Omega for busting him open in the Tokyo Dome and doing the same to him  The entire match rivaled a three-act play.

In the end, it was hDon Callis armed with a screwdriver who put the screws to his ex-protege, Omega. In a sneaky move, he gets the screwdriver to Ospreay who uses it on Omega’s head. Will’s signature moves, The Hidden Blade and a Storm Breaker finally ended the night and the title reign for Omega.  Oh, and by the way, check out the openings before Omega and Ospreay came to the ring  … the best of the night.

“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry ( the son of the late 90210 star, Luke Perry) is finally leaving the jungles behind.  After being defeated by IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Sanada, in a solid match, the change that had been rumored to be upon us us, did.

After being helped up the ramp by his tag-team partner, Hook, Perry clotheslined him and as the crowd boo’d, but then he egged then up making fun of his own ‘Jungle Boy’ theme music.  Perry had promised himself he would be a champion this year and thus far all his attempts at numerous title shots have failed.  Now that Jack has turned heel, what will be his new look? New attitude? Stay tuned.

Photo: AEW

MJF retained his AEW World Championship in the first bout of the night against Hiroshi Tanahashi. While it wasn’t the most fluid match, all of MJF’s antics and charisma made up for it.  Not only did he sent out a time tweet on his Twitter account right before the match, his ring robe had written on the back, “New Japan is an Indie”.  After hitting Tanahashi with his diamond ring and securing the pin, MJF made it known he was hightailing it out of Toronto, so much so we see him later at the airport.

Photo: AEW

In the actual final match of the night, Bryan Danielson entered the ring to his old theme music from Ring of Honor that of Final Countdown. AEW CEO, Tony Khan admitted in a post-media scrum that to license the song for the night cost a pretty penny, but they were thrilled to get to use it for this special match and maybe could use one other time in the future.  Danielson was facing Kuzuchika Okada.  It was was a match of move and countermoves showing the sheer technical excellence of each man.

Courtesy/AEW

However, during the match, fans could see Danielson holding one arm closer to his side. It was later revealed in the same post-media scrum that Danielson had fractured his right forearm and would be out of commission for 6 t0 8 weeks.  In the end, Danielson got the win in a shocking tap out by Okada.

Courtesy/AEW

CM Punk made his return to single’s competition after being shelved for nine months recovering from a triceps tear surgery.  On this night, he was the first quarterfinal match in the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament.  Punk faced off with Satoshi Kojima.  Throughout the match, Punk looked like he was getting a lot of his groove back in the ring.  While he was booed loudly by the Canadian crowd, there were also some “CM Punk” chanter faithfuls in the arena, too.  In the end it was Punk for the win, who will go on to meet the winner of his arch-rival Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong.

Honorable mentions have to go to Orange Cassidy and the incredible fatal four-way match with Zach Sabre Jr., Daniel Garcia and Katsuyori Shibata to retain the AEW International championship.

Photo: Steve Arginatru

And what happened to the potential split between Sammy Guevara and Jericho Appreciation Society leader, Chris Jericho? It never materialized in their trios match with Minoru Suzuki against Darby Allin, Sting and Netsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho.

Immediately following Forbidden Door, Michael Fairman and pro wrestling reporter, Luis Ruiz recapped the entire event and more on their You Tube series, What’s Up? Wrestling.  You can check that out below.

So, what did you think of AEW Forbidden Door 2023? What were your favorite matches? How would you grade it? We give it an “A”.  Share your thoughts in the comment section.

AEW

AEW Dynasty: Swerve Strickland Becomes AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Perry Returns, Will Ospreay Retires Move After Scary Finish

There is no doubt now, who’s house it is in AEW? It’s “Swerve’s House” after his strong showing on Sunday nights AEW Dynasty pay-per-view. In the main event, Swerve Strickland captured the AEW World Heavyweight Championship defeating Samoa Joe in a career-defining moment.

Strickland becomes the first ever Black AEW World Heavyweight Champion in the organizations history.  And it was not loss on Strickland, who spoke about it in the post-Dynasty media scrum, but also knew the moment was upon him from the moment he was going to make his ring entrance in front of a sold-out crowd in St. Louis and those watching around the world on cable outlets or via Bleacher Report.

Swerve Strickland ring entrance showed that he was dressed to impress, in a mask and black and gold spandex attire. As fans caught on , Swerve was paying tribute to the character of Kilmonger, the antagonist of 2018’s Black Panther film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that was not all, Prince Nana, Strickland’s manager/sidekick covered Strickland with a robe that belonged to Jimmy Rave. Rave was part of Ring of Honor during the company’s early days and was part of Nana’s stable The Embassy. He has three shots at the ROH title but never won the big prize.

Photo: AEW

AEW Dynasty had three major matches back-to-back to conclude the three hours show.  Strickland in the main event defeating Samoa Joe, and before that The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a brutal ladder match.

Courtesy/AEW

In the deciding moment of the match after Harwood goes to climb up the ladder to reach  for the titles, a masked man runs in and knocks over the ladder. It’s revealed to be none other than the previously suspended, Jack Perry (son of the late 90210 star, Luke Perry). Perry throws up the Elite symbol as security escorts him away. Nicholas Jackson looks pleased by the interference and uses it to take advantage and climb the ladder to get control of the title belts and The Young Bucks become the new AEW tag champs, once again.

The most highly-anticipated match of the night was between two of the greatest wrestlers to ever do it – Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay and after more than a half-hour of back and forth with high flying moves, technical precision and punches and kicks, Ospreay was able to get the pin, but unfortunately in the last few minutes of the match, Danielson went down after Ospreay delivered the Storm Driver ’91 move. Next, the referee called for medical to check out Danielson, while Will was unaware of that and continued to finish the match.

Photo: AEW

At the post-Dynasty media scrum, an upset Ospreay began by addressing reporters and sharing, “I’m super glad that everybody enjoyed the match. A little bit of a dampener on how it’s all kind of the dust has settled now. I’ve reviewed the footage myself. Seeing Bryan got hurt on the Storm Driver, and I didn’t see the referee call for the doctor and I didn’t see it. So I want to apologize on that.So even though like 90% of the time that moves been absolutely fine, seeing the damage that it’s kind of done, I’m going to retire using the Storm Driver ’91. I don’t think it’s right for me to continue using it after seeing what it did to Bryan, someone that I’ve got huge amounts of respect for, this was kind of my dream match. This is something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Although I’m happy when everyone enjoyed the match, I’m kind of disappointed in myself. So once again, I apologize to Bryan probably apologize to AEW medics, I apologize to Tony (Khan, CEO/GM AEW).

In one of the best matches in the card, and in the opening bout, for the AEW Continental Championship Match, “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada defeated “The Bastard” PAC to retain his title. Meanwhile, Willow Nightingale became the Women’s TBS Champion defeating Julia Hart, only to have Mercedes Mone come to the ring to challenge Willow at Double or Nothing in Vegas at the end of May.

So, what do you think of Swerve Strickland becoming AEW World Champ? Jack Perry’s return? Will Ospreay’s match-up with Bryan Danielson and its ending? Let us know in the comment section below.

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AEW

Mercedes Mone’, Formerly WWE’s Sasha Banks, Makes Her Highly-Anticipated AEW Debut

AEW Big Business in Boston, brought it with it the “CEO” on Wednesday night’s ‘AEW Dynamite’ on TBS.  Now, we are not talking about AEW chief, Tony Khan, we are talking about the WWE’s former Sasha Banks, and one of the top female wrestling star’s in the word, Mercedes Mone’.

Mone’, who in real-life is known as Mercedes Varnado, made he debut in front of her hometown crowd in Boston, and appeared at the opening of last night’s episode with new theme music to boot. While chants rang out for the “CEO”, Mercedes took it all in and was moved to tears.

Addressing the crowd and the TV cameras, she expressed, “Thanks for having my back these past two years.“ Mone’ then added, “You want to know why I’m here? Because I need to be here. I want to be here.”

Photo: deviantart.com/Youtube

Varnado has held gold  several times throughout her career including as: NXT Women’s Champion, WWE RAW Women’s Champion five times over, WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion on three different occasions. The biggest match in her career was when she and Bianca Belair headlined WrestleMania 37 and as the first two African-American women to do so.

As the story goes, back in May of 2022, then as Sasha Banks, Varnado walked out of the WWE during Monday Night Raw along with her tag team partner, Trinity Fatu (who goes by Naomi). At the time, the duo were the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at the time, and then were suspended indefinitely.

Later, Mercedes under her new wrestling name Mone’, appeared in a January 2023 New Japan Pro-Wrestling pay per view, Wrestle Kingdom 17.  In May of last year, she sustained an ankle injury in a match with now AEW’s Willow Nightingale.

It had been speculated for well over a year that when Mercedes returned to wrestling, she would join AEW, while her former tag partner, Naomi has now returned to the WWE as of January of this year.

Watch Mercedes debut entrance from last night’s AEW Big Business below.

Now let us know, are you happy to see her back on U.S. TV and in the ring? How do you think her run will be in AEW? Will she eventually return back to the WWE?  She teased it during a recent interview with the Kicks Rocks Wrestling Podcast saying, “I know I’m going to be back there [in WWE] one day, okay? So it’s not over.”  However, in an updated version of the episode those remarked have been edited out.

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AEW

Sting Goes Out on Top in the Perfect Finale to His Legendary Career at ‘AEW Revolution’

They could not have done it any better. For weeks leading up to the Sunday’s AEW: Revolution pay-per-view, the questions remained, would AEW live up to the hype and deliver to “The Icon” Sting a befitting goodbye, when in his previous returns during his legendary career were less than stellar in TNA and WWE?

The answer was “Yes!” Every box was check-marked. It was revealed in the post-match media scrum and in subsequent articles and online, that Sting had a major hand in who he wanted to wrestle against in his final match, and how his sons would be involved in his last appearance in AEW and in a pro wrestling ring, and more.

When it came down to the main event at the historic Greensboro, North Carolina, home to the classic NWA 1988 match with Sting vs. Ric Flair, that set the tone for him becoming one of the greatest to ever do it. Now in 2024, Sting was about to enter the ring for the last time in emotional fashion with more than 16,000 in attendance and a worldwide audience watching at home.

Photo: AEW

First, a video package rolled where Sting is seated inside a movie theatre as he watches his life in wrestling up on the screen pass by. After it comes to its conclusion, he looks to camera ready for battle for the last time. Back to live action, two versions of Sting appear at the top of the entrance ramp. And, in another emotional moment, it is revealed that the two men in the iconic wrestling gear from two different eras of Sting’s career were his two sons; one dressed as “Surfer Sting” and one dressed as “Wolfpac Sting”. In fact, Sting’s sons, Garrett and Steve Jr. were a part of his final act, as they two were beaten down by the Young Bucks a few weeks back on AEW TV.

Next, Sting himself enters and the crowd erupts as the Texas Tornado match in which he is a part of takes off. In it, Sting and his partner Darby Allin are defending the AEW World Tag Team championships against the Young Bucks, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson. The match delivered death-defying moves including: Sting taking a suplex off the stage and through a table, and Darby Allin putting his body on the line crashing through a pane of glass after he dove off a ladder.

Several dear friends and wrestling luminaries were in attendance or involved in the match including Ric Flair who jumped into the ring to protect Sting at one point, and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat who was the guest timekeeper. However, both were knocked out by superkicks by the Bucks for their trouble. Those in the audience were former pro wrestlers, Lex Luger, Magnum TA, Scotty Riggs, Nikita Koloff, and Diamond Dallas Page, plus others from Sting’s extended family.

Photo: AEW

In the end, Sting scored the win performing his signature move, the Scorpion Death Lock, on Matthew Jackson. Sting and Darby Allin retained the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Fans were relieved that Sting went out a winner and many cried tears of joy.

Next, Sting was next celebrated in the ring as confetti was shot out, and fans chanted “Thank you. Sting!” When, there were only five minutes left of air time on the pay-per-view, Sting began to thank Greensboro, the crowd, his family and AEW, when suddenly time ran out and unfortunately the show ended. However, after the match, his final words to the crowd and the company were posted on social media (you can watch it below). In the post-‘Revolution’ media scrum, Sting even called Sunday night, a “Top 3” match of his career.

Photo: AEW

Sting was key WCW’s success in the Monday Night Wars in the mid-to-late nineties against the WWE, when his version of “Crow” Sting coming down from the rafters to fight Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the NWO were epic. The story built for over a year with Sting barely uttering a word, but he ultimately became everybody’s hero in a story of good vs. evil. And that’s the case with Steve “Sting” Borden, too. He will be remembered as one of wrestling’s good guys, in front of the camera and to everyone that knew him behind the scenes.

So, what did you think of the way AEW honored the iconic Sting and his final match? Were you happy with all the special moments before/during and after the match? All we can say and to echo those sentiments from those in attendance and around the world, “Thank you, Sting!”

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