AEW Dynamite rolls into Rio Rancho, New Mexico tonight with one final chance to make AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door feel like a true destination instead of just another stacked AEW pay-per-view wearing an international coat of paint. On paper, tonight’s card is loaded. Konosuke Takeshita defends the AEW International Championship against Ricochet, Swerve Strickland gets Daniel Garcia before his Owen Hart Cup Final against Will Ospreay, Ospreay himself faces longtime NJPW rival ELP, Jack Perry tests himself against Zack Sabre Jr., The Young Bucks face TMDK, Místico teams with Brodido against the Death Riders, and both Team MJF and Team Briscoe are set to speak before their 6-on-6 Steel Cage Match at Forbidden Door. That is a lot of wrestling, a lot of bodies, and a lot of stories to squeeze into one go-home episode, but that is also part of the problem. AEW has built a huge card for Sunday, but the road to Forbidden Door has too often felt like AEW doing AEW stories while NJPW, CMLL, and STARDOM orbit the product instead of crashing into it. Tonight is AEW’s last real television opportunity to change that feeling.
Here is everything advertised for tonight’s card
- Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Ricochet (AEW International Championship)
- Swerve Strickland vs. Daniel Garcia
- Will Ospreay vs. ELP
- Jack Perry vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
- The Young Bucks vs. TMDK
- Místico and Brodido vs. The Death Riders
- Queen Aminata vs. ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet (TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest Qualifier)
- Harley Cameron vs. Marina Shafir (TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest Qualifier)
- Team MJF speaks
- Team Briscoe speaks
Last week’s Dynamite was one of those shows that looked strong in isolation but exposed the biggest issue with this Forbidden Door build. The show opened with MJF picking his team for the 6-on-6 Steel Cage Match, and instead of this feeling like a four-company war, it immediately became an AEW World Title orbit story. MJF bought access to the Don Callis Family, Kevin Knight inserted himself into the picture because he wants a future world title shot, Andrade El Ídolo looked irritated before the match even happened, and Mark Briscoe was once again positioned as the emotional babyface trying to fight through the system to finally get his shot at the Triple B. That is good AEW television. It is also not really a Forbidden Door story.
The 12-man tag main event last week gave us the preview of Team MJF vs. Team Briscoe before the cage, and the match had all the moving parts AEW loves to throw into a main event. MJF hiding behind his hired killers. Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher stepping on each other’s egos. Darby Allin chasing Knight with revenge in his eyes. Konosuke Takeshita wanting a piece of Fletcher and the Don Callis Family. Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong holding the Conglomeration together while Briscoe tried not to lose his temper. The stipulation that either side would lose a man at Forbidden Door if they got disqualified gave the match some discipline, but once the bodies started flying, the whole thing became the kind of chaotic, overstuffed AEW main event that can be entertaining and frustrating at the same time.
The finish did what it needed to do for MJF. Briscoe had him in real danger, hit the Jay Driller, and should have had the moment, but Don Callis got involved, Fletcher cut him off, Strong became the legal man, and MJF trapped him in Salt of the Earth. Then came the beatdown, the hesitation from Andrade, and MJF using the Dynamite Diamond Ring to leave Briscoe laying. That final image gave MJF heat and gave Briscoe sympathy, but it also made the Forbidden Door cage match feel like it could be happening at any AEW pay-per-view. The stakes are clear. The emotion is clear. The outside-promotion hook is not.
That is where tonight’s Team MJF and Team Briscoe promo segments become important. AEW cannot just run both teams out there to say “we are ready for Sunday.” MJF needs to sell why his team is the most dangerous group in the building while also exposing the cracks that already exist. Andrade does not look like a man who wants to take orders. Okada is too big of a star to feel like MJF’s background muscle. Fletcher wants gold. Knight wants a title shot. Jake Doyle is there as muscle. Don Callis is there because he is Don Callis, which means everyone around him is either being used or about to be used. On the other side, Briscoe has the more unified team, but unity is not the same thing as survival inside a steel cage. Briscoe needs to sound like a man who knows this may be his best shot at MJF, not just a fired-up babyface cutting another passionate promo.
Swerve Strickland vs. Daniel Garcia is quietly one of the most important matches on tonight’s show because it is not just Swerve getting a tune-up before Ospreay. Garcia is tied directly to the Death Riders, and the Death Riders are tied directly to the question Swerve has been asking about Ospreay. Last week, Swerve accused Ospreay of changing. He brought up Ospreay training with the same group that destroyed his neck. Ospreay tried to frame it as growth, control, and becoming the best version of himself, but Swerve saw it for what it looked like: a man compromising with monsters because he thinks the end goal justifies the damage.
The face-to-face between Swerve and Ospreay last week was one of the strongest pieces of the entire build because it finally gave their Owen Hart Cup Final something deeper than “winner goes to All In.” Ospreay made it about Wembley, his dream, his new marriage, and the idea that he is one match away from walking into the biggest building of his life with a world title shot waiting. Swerve made it about being stepped over, being asked to move aside, and watching Ospreay’s plan with Hangman Page lead to nothing. When Swerve reminded Ospreay that Ospreay has never beaten him, that was the line that mattered. This is not just a clash of two elite wrestlers. It is Swerve telling Ospreay that dreams do not erase history.
Garcia is the perfect opponent for Swerve tonight because he can pull that aggression out of him. Garcia does not need to win. He needs to make Swerve wrestle angry. He needs to force Swerve to prove that he is not walking into Forbidden Door emotionally distracted. If Ospreay is watching closely, this match should tell him exactly what kind of Swerve he is getting on Sunday. If Swerve is too aggressive, Ospreay can say Swerve is rattled. If Swerve is too cautious, Garcia can drag him into Death Riders territory. Either way, this match should not exist in a vacuum. It should be the final physical argument before Swerve and Ospreay try to rip the Wembley dream away from each other.
Will Ospreay vs. ELP is the better Forbidden Door-style match on paper because it actually carries NJPW history. Ospreay and ELP have history from Japan, and that gives the match a reason to exist beyond just putting Ospreay in action before Sunday. AEW needs more of this. This is what Forbidden Door should feel like. A wrestler from AEW’s current top tier being forced to wrestle someone who knows a previous version of him, understands his tendencies, and can bring out a different rhythm than the usual AEW television match. Ospreay should win, but the result is not the only thing that matters. The match needs to show whether Ospreay is focused, whether the Death Riders influence is changing how he wrestles, and whether his obsession with Wembley is making him sharper or more reckless.
Jack Perry vs. Zack Sabre Jr. is another match that helps tonight feel more international. Perry wants to test himself against ZSJ before ZSJ faces Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door, and that is exactly the kind of wrestling-first logic AEW should lean into more often. Perry does not need to suddenly hate Sabre. Sabre does not need to cut a cartoon villain promo. Sometimes the hook can simply be that Jack Perry wants to know how he measures up against one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. Sabre should be treated like a killer here. Not loud. Not flashy. Just cold, smart, and cruel with every hold. If he is facing Omega on Sunday, tonight should remind everyone that ZSJ can take a body apart without wasting motion.
Omega’s role in this build has been solid but could have been bigger. Last week, Omega crushed Tony Nese, then Zack Sabre Jr. and TMDK arrived, forcing The Elite to back Omega up. Omega sold the match the right way by framing it as the greatest technical wrestler alive against Kenny Omega, but this is the kind of dream match that should feel like a pillar of the pay-per-view. Instead, it has sometimes felt like one premium attraction among several AEW-centered stories. Tonight’s Perry vs. ZSJ and Young Bucks vs. TMDK matches have to push the Omega/ZSJ side harder. The Elite and TMDK cannot just be filling TV time. They need to make that Forbidden Door match feel like a clash of philosophies.
The Young Bucks vs. TMDK should be fast, annoying, slick and physical, but it needs more than cool sequences. The Bucks had Omega’s back against Sabre, and TMDK are not there to be polite guests. Bad Dude Tito and Mikey Nicholls should bring a rougher edge to the Bucks’ usual rhythm. The Bucks are at their best when they are forced to fight teams that do not care about matching their pace and would rather crack them in the mouth. If AEW wants Sunday’s three-way tag with The Bucks, Místico and Máscara Dorada, and Shingo Takagi and Titan to feel like a real crossover attraction, tonight needs to show that these partner-promotion wrestlers are not just names on a graphic.
Místico and Brodido vs. The Death Riders might be the most important match on tonight’s card when it comes to fixing the Forbidden Door tone. Místico should feel special. Bandido should feel like a man who earned Jon Moxley’s attention by beating the Death Riders last week. Brody King should feel like the monster who gives Bandido a real chance to stand across from Moxley without being swallowed by the numbers. Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta should not treat this like another trios match. Moxley is defending the AEW Continental Championship against Bandido at Forbidden Door, and tonight should be about making Bandido feel like a credible threat, not just a spectacular wrestler who gets to do cool things before Moxley chokes him out.
Last week’s Brodido vs. Moxley and Garcia match was one of the better matches of the week because it had real structure. Bandido and Garcia started with clean counters, Brody and Moxley brought the violence, Marina Shafir changed the match by forcing King to hesitate, and the Death Riders used that pause to take control. Bandido’s comeback mattered because he fought through Moxley’s orbit and pinned Garcia with the 21-Plex. The post-match challenge was simple and effective. Bandido saw the Continental Championship, Moxley told him to call his shot, and suddenly a match that could have felt random had a reason. Tonight has to keep that same clarity. Bandido needs to look like he belongs across from Moxley.
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ricochet for the AEW International Championship should be the best pure wrestling match on the show if given the time. Takeshita has been tangled in Don Callis Family drama, Team Briscoe business, Kyle Fletcher issues, and the wider AEW World Title-adjacent cage match build. Ricochet has been talking like Takeshita has been ducking him, and this is where AEW needs to be careful. Ricochet can be cocky, annoying and disrespectful, but Takeshita cannot look like a champion who is just surviving his schedule. He needs to look like “The Alpha.” He needs to wrestle like the champion who took the International Title and made it feel heavy again.
The match itself should be ridiculous in the best way. Ricochet’s speed, counters, springboards and sudden acceleration against Takeshita’s power, knees, Blue Thunder Bomb counters and violent timing is the kind of pairing AEW can build a whole hour around if it wanted to. But this is also a test of focus. Takeshita is on Team Briscoe at Forbidden Door. Fletcher and the Don Callis Family are still in his path. Ricochet is trying to use that chaos to steal a title. If AEW wants the International Championship to feel important, this cannot just be a great match that ends with interference or noise. It needs to feel like a championship fight first and a storyline piece second.
The TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest qualifiers give the women’s division a necessary presence on tonight’s card, but they also show how scattered AEW’s women’s storytelling can feel. Queen Aminata vs. Red Velvet has the chance to be physical and competitive, especially with Red Velvet already holding ROH Women’s World Television Championship credibility and Aminata still chasing that next major AEW breakthrough. Harley Cameron vs. Marina Shafir has a different energy. Harley has personality and crowd support, but Marina has the kind of cold, punishing style that can shut down someone’s momentum quickly. Both matches matter because the TBS Championship picture needs structure, but on the go-home Dynamite before Forbidden Door, it is noticeable that the most important women’s stories are still mostly AEW-centered.
That gets to the larger issue with the entire road to Forbidden Door. This event is being promoted as AEW, NJPW, CMLL and STARDOM coming together, but too much of the build has asked the outside talent to fit inside AEW’s stories instead of giving those promotions a real chance to drive the show. NJPW has Zack Sabre Jr., Shota Umino, TMDK, The Dogs, Shingo Takagi, Titan and ELP involved, but ZSJ vs. Omega is the only NJPW-connected match that has consistently felt like a true Forbidden Door dream match. CMLL has Místico, Máscara Dorada, Olympia and Persephone around the wider picture, but CMLL still feels more like exciting flavor than a force taking over AEW television. STARDOM has Starlight Kid challenging Thekla and Hazuki giving Mercedes Moné an excellent Owen Cup semifinal, but there has not been enough volume to make STARDOM feel like one of the central engines of the pay-per-view.
Mercedes Moné vs. Hazuki last week was exactly what Forbidden Door should do. Hazuki came in and wrestled like she had no interest in being a guest star. She blocked Mercedes from even getting comfortable, attacked with crossfaces, dives, a DDT on the apron, a codebreaker off the middle rope and enough near-falls to make Mercedes work for every inch. Mercedes survived and tapped her out with the Statement Maker, but Hazuki left the match with credibility. That was good use of outside talent. The problem is AEW needed more of that across the entire build, not just one match.
Collision helped the week because Maya World upsetting Athena gave the women’s Owen Hart Cup a real emotional shock. Athena wrestled like the dominant mentor who believed she knew every answer, Maya refused to stay down, kicked out of the O-Face, and stole the semifinal with a pinning bridge. Then Mercedes and Athena attacked her afterward, turning Maya into the wounded underdog walking into Sunday. That is good storytelling, but again, it is AEW/ROH storytelling. It has emotion, stakes and character, but it does not exactly scream NJPW, CMLL or STARDOM.
Collision also did more for the international flavor than Dynamite in some ways. Místico defeated Dante Martin in a strong showcase, Zack Sabre Jr. beat Adam Priest, Shota Umino accepted PAC’s challenge for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, and Thunder Rosa revealed Olympia as her CMLL partner to challenge Divine Dominion. Those were all useful pieces. The issue is timing. When so many of the partner-promotion elements start feeling loud only in the final week, it makes the build feel assembled instead of inevitable.
Tonight’s Dynamite has to do two things at once. It has to sell Sunday’s card as must-see, and it has to repair the feeling that Forbidden Door has been too AEW-heavy. That means Místico cannot feel like a cameo. ZSJ cannot feel like a guy killing time before Omega. TMDK cannot feel like a background team for the Bucks. ELP cannot feel like just another Ospreay opponent. The outside names have to matter on the actual broadcast, not just on the match graphic. AEW has enough talent to deliver a great show, but Forbidden Door should be held to a higher standard than “great wrestling will happen.” It should feel like four worlds colliding. Tonight is the last chance to make that collision feel real before Sunday.
Current AEW Forbidden Door Card
- AEW World Champion MJF, TNT Champion Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, Jake Doyle and Andrade El Ídolo vs. Mark Briscoe, AEW World Trios Champion Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita and Darby Allin (6-on-6 Steel Cage Match)
- Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland (Owen Hart Cup Men’s Final)
- Mercedes Moné vs. Maya World (Owen Hart Cup Women’s Final)
- Thekla (c) vs. Starlight Kid (AEW Women’s World Championship)
- Cope and Christian Cage (c) vs. The Dogs (AEW World Tag Team Championship)
- Jon Moxley (c) vs. Bandido (AEW Continental Championship)
- Shota Umino (c) vs. PAC (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
- The Young Bucks vs. Místico and Máscara Dorada vs. Shingo Takagi and Titan
- Divine Dominion (c) vs. Thunder Rosa and Olympia (AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship) (Buy-In)
Final Thoughts
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite is not lacking matches, talent or potential. If anything, the show is almost too packed for its own good. Takeshita vs. Ricochet could steal the night. Swerve vs. Garcia should sharpen the edge before Swerve meets Ospreay. Ospreay vs. ELP and Perry vs. ZSJ should finally make the NJPW side feel more present. Místico teaming with Brodido against the Death Riders should give the show the crossover energy this build has badly needed. Team MJF and Team Briscoe should put the final emotional stamp on the cage match.
But the honest pressure on AEW tonight is bigger than just delivering a good Dynamite. AEW has to make Forbidden Door feel like Forbidden Door. The company has built a strong pay-per-view card, but the road has leaned too heavily on AEW’s own internal stories while NJPW, CMLL and STARDOM have too often felt like supporting pieces. That can still be corrected somewhat tonight, but only if AEW treats the outside talent like threats, not attractions. Forbidden Door should feel unpredictable, international and dangerous. Tonight is the last chance to make it feel that way before the bell rings in San Jose.
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!