AEW Forbidden Door 2025 review – By Gareth ‘Wrestle G’ Huish

Hello one and all and welcome back once again to my Wrestling safe space for all who love the Pro Wrestling genre. We are coming off of the back of a big AEW PPV and a start of their residency at the 2300 Arena in Philly. And we are on the Cusp of Clash in Paris where WWE look to bring France another dose of graps.

This column will mainly be about my experience at Forbidden Door where I was fortunate to have media credentials, so I am going to fill you in on my experience.

But First a few thoughts about wrestling this week:

-2300 residency got underway this week, I have to be honest I didn’t dig the feel of it. I’m not sure if it was because AEW were coming off of the back of O2, but the look of the building looked claustrophobic and dark. But not in a fun way. They are there for a few shows so I hope they could tweak it. But it didn’t quite land for me.

– Clash in Paris is this weekend, and I think the card is decent. I like Logan Paul as a performer more than most, I think. When I went to Raw in London back in March the heat the guy got was by far the most impressive. The whole Arena hated the guy. And that in essence is the name of the game. I think the way the wrestlers will match well with Cena as well. Elsewhere on the card I am intrigued to see if Bronson Reed can shine against Roman Reigns. Roman doesn’t do singles matches often and just for anyone, so this suggests to me a lot of people see something in Bronson, lets hope he can grab the opportunity with both hands. Maybe we will be saluting our Tribal Thief at the end of the match.

-Lots of chatter this week about the awful incident involving Raja Jackson. As of writing it appears an Indie federation has booked him for an upcoming event. I just cannot get my head around why a company would be this foolish. I hope the authorities investigate the incident thoroughly and that any appropriate justice is dished out. Wrestling is performed on trust and all competitors need to know that each other will take care of them. Punching someone repeatedly in the head multiple times while they are unconscious goes so far past decency. He should never be allowed in a dressing room or ring again, and I hope the indie that has booked him will reconsider.

-Chris Jericho at the moment is the subject of rumours surrounding his future. All signs are currently pointing to him leaving AEW for one last WWE run. I think it might be time for a sunset run in WWE. He would leave AEW having laid enough foundations that he can be proud of his work, but he was teetering on the edge of outstaying his welcome with the crowd. A shot of Nostalgia of being in a WWE ring along with a Hall of Fame induction would be more than fitting for him.

Ok let’s get into the main portion of the column this week.

Finally going through the Forbidden Door

I have sat and watched all previous incarnations of the Forbidden Door PPV’s and really loved the concept. It’s opened my wrestling pallet up to all different kinds of performers and styles that I hadn’t seen before. I simply don’t have the time to watch New Japan Pro Wrestling regularly so by giving some of their star’s exposure on AEW TV it has helped me tremendously in trying to learn more about it.

So, it was with great excitement at last years All in PPV where it was announced that Forbidden door would be coming to London.

And so, this year I was fortunate enough to be given press accreditation for Forbidden Door. Now I have to say this having seen how many positive and hard-working people there are at AEW was a joy to see. The common discourse is always around just Tony Khan as the front and centre and owner. But there is a diligent team there that is running a pretty smooth ship in terms of PR, Marketing, Live Event Strategy and production. I didn’t get to see any of the wrestling backstage side of things. But from what I saw of the rest AEW is in good hands.

In terms of the event itself there were not any matches I felt I didn’t enjoy. For the pre-show it was a joy to watch Samoa Joe in the ring again. And was awesome seeing Robbie X get to perform in the O2. The Opps retained in an entertaining bout.

Elsewhere on Zero hour we saw Michael Oku once again step into an AEW ring and took one of the most insane and dangerous looking bumps to the outside I’ve ever seen. Honestly the whole O2 Arena gasped as they saw he was about to crash to the outside. Luckily, he was ok. I’m liking the group of Ricochet and the Gates of Agony. They look like they fit and the Gates being heaters suit them much better.

There was a women tag match as well. Megan Bayne looks insane live. She has such a presence, and her work is decent. She will be a pillar of the division going forward. As will Willow Nightengale who just has such an infectious personality. A babyface that can transcend kids and adults alike in garnering support. You just want to see her win and do well. She also has the tools in the ring. She will be a huge babyface champ one day.

The Show then started for the main show. Straight out the gates we get the Adam Copeland singalong, a lovely moment and was so fun to be a part of. I don’t think Copeland has fully fit in with the vibe at AEW but its not for the lack of effort. The crowd loved seeing him and Christian team up for the first time in over a decade together. The match against Kip Sabian and Luchasaraus was fine for what it was. Kip got himself hugely busted open over his eye which looked painful. Great to see Cope and Christian get the win, I love Christian playing the reluctant tag partner.

Up next was Kyle Fletcher against Takahashi. This did exactly what I said I wanted it to do and that’s make Fletcher look strong in a competitive match against a great opponent. I LOVE Takahashi’s look and presentation, its colourful it draws you in and he’s great in ring as well. Kyle Fletcher is going to be the man in AEW in a few years’ time (more on this later) I’m really excited about his TNT title run after this match. I think he has one of the highest ceilings in wrestling right now.

Next up was a 4 way for the TBS women’s Championship match.  This was probably the most Forbidden Door like match up of the night. First time seeing Bozilla and much like Megan Bayne she has a massive presence once she steps in that ring, she clearly has had good training in Germany and as a second-generation wrestler looks to be another one who Tony should be already negotiating first option on. Bozilla popped me the most for telling the rest of the competitors to go fuck themselves which I’m sure was very loud over the TV coverage as well.

Persephone made sure she stood out during this match as well, her feats of strength during this contest made people pay attention to her. It looks like there may be a singles match upcoming between her and Mercedes and that will be an interesting bout. Alex WINDSAAAA also held her end of the bargain up here, she’s been booked really well since joining and feels like a big star in the division already. She brings that bit more of a submission mat-based style that a lot of other women in the division don’t bring.

Mercedes retained to keep her 9 belts intact. I don’t get mad about this gimmick like others do. It’s not my favourite but its not terrible either. Some people get really mad at it though, which means at some level its working.

My favourite match of the night was up next. Nigel McGuinness against Zack Sabre Jr. There was a wonderful video package of Nigel and Johnny Saint playing chess before the match and Nigel got a great reception coming out. I want everyone reading this and do me a favour, go and watch this match and tell me the first time someone went outside of the ring to the outside. It was right at the end of the match when Zack briefly confronted Daniel Garcia. It was so refreshing to see a wrestling match tell its complete story within the ropes for its duration.

This match felt like a struggle; it felt like two guys were really wearing themselves down. It didn’t rely on spamming near falls or spamming finishers. It was two technicians trying to cerebrally take each other out. The finish worked and it turned out that it was just a nice neutral ending to Nigel and Daniels partnership. This match was a love letter to the days gone by of British Wrestling from World of Sport right up to the present day. I can’t wait to watch it again.

The Tag Team titles were up for grabs next. I will tell you that live, there is a real mood change when the Hurt Syndicate come out. The music, they way they carry themselves, the crowd chanting. It feels such a departure but in a good way. The match was ok; it was probably my least favourite of the night and that was probably due to the ending. The match had been advertised as an elimination match on social media so when we got to the finish and the first fall of the match signalled Brodido’s win the crowd didn’t pop as much as they should have/wanted to as a lot of people were expecting the match to continue, it didn’t help that the count was botched. It was a shame, but Brody King and Bandido have been such a successful thrown together tag team that the crowd quickly got involved in their celebrations. Definitely not the result I expected, but I’m not mad at it.

Okada and Swerve got to face off next and this was my favourite Okada match in a while. I don’t know what it was but for me Swerve’s style seemed to match with Okada’s a little better. I’m still not completely sold on his AEW run though. Swerve put in his reps and that man has star power. Him and Nana still work and while I didn’t want him to be out with an injury being away so the fans will miss him won’t hurt him at all. It was nice to have the surprise of Wardlow returning and setting up a Swerve programme down the road. Joining the Don Callis family was a surprise but a pleasant one. They have set up a huge Heel Machine there and they need to make it a strong one. Wardlow needs a good 12 months of staying healthy to truly rehabilitate him. A run with the breaks on this time will be hard to recover from.

Toni Storm and Athena for the AEW Women’s World championship was a great back and forth affair. Toni still shines in her gimmick, but Athena is in a bit of a tricky position right now, she’s more regular on AEW TV but is eating more pins than her ROH run, I feel like AEW need to decide how much they are going to back her on AEW TV. She has built up a tonne of good faith from fans who have seen her in ROH and if she has gotten over there then there’s no reason she can’t get over similar on AEW TV. This loss won’t hurt her, but many more future ones will.

Hangman Adam Page and MJF for the AEW Men’s world heavyweight championship was almost everything I wanted it to be. It was hard hitting; it had great psychology it had some huge bumps. The Deadeye from the apron to the outside being the particularly memorable one. But that Finish was ugly. How to Bury a ref in one finish. Once the 3 was counted there was no Bell, and then for some reason the referee changed his mind on counting the three without any other intervention. It just felt off and see through sadly. Still the rest of the match was amazing, and Hangman rightfully retained. It seems the Don Callis family is in Hangman’s future, but MJF won’t be far behind in challenging him again soon.

The Lights-out cage match was the ‘main event’ of the evening even if it was unsanctioned. A lovely little touch from AEW to remove the AEW logo from the canvas to show the company wanted no part of what was about to happen. Lots of competitors were banged up and Will Ospreay who we knew beforehand would be taking time off to get his neck fixed came out to an intro video narrated by his partner Alex Windsor and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. When his music hit the arena erupted and sang their hearts out to it. I took my favourite picture of the night of Ospreay stood atop of the cage just looking out as the crowd sang. He seemed overwhelmed and I hope and pray he is able to come back even a fraction of the performer he currently is.

The match itself was ok; it wasn’t a patch on the anarchy in the arena match from a few months ago. And it was clear many performers had limitations. I popped hard for Tanahashi in what could be his last UK appearance being begged down from climbing a ladder to jump off of it. And the Ace got the final pinfall as well which was a fitting tribute for someone who has given so much to the business and to the AEW and NJPW partnership. The ending saw the Death Riders lock Ospreay in the cage and not let the faces get in, lots of people moaning about the faces not going over the top of the cage but we have seen so often heels lock themselves in and use pipes etc to keep people from coming over the top. Ospreay got taken out and written off of TV. The only ending there could have been and brought the curtain down on what was a great show.

Following the ending of the show I got to go to my first AEW press scrum, we were taken from our seats through a little part of the dressing room (where I got a little peek in to one of the dressing rooms where NJPW booker GEDO was chilling out) and then sat in the press room. This was my first time being in the presence of Tony Khan and you know what? I can see instantly why so many people are friendly with him and get taken in, he has an infectious manner about him. As usual he was super positive about the event and AEW’s future, he also has one of the best memories of anyone I’ve encountered where he managed to recall in detail shows and situations from 2019.

The press scrum was a mixture of Tony taking questions and some select talent and hosted by Rene Paquette who is as professional and talented in this setting as she is as a backstage interviewer. We got Brodido, Mercedes Mone and Kyle Fletcher in to take questions. Mercedes opted for much more of a character presentation whereas the others opted to be a little bit more real. This really benefitted Fletcher who spoke with such clarity about his AEW career thus far and his future goals. When he was talking, he felt like a guy who you could hand the ball to, and he would run with it. I said last week he needs to rehabilitate this TNT championship but with a gaping hole in the roster with Ospreay, Swerve and now maybe Omega departing, Kyle Fletcher has to be someone the company is looking at it take further.

The scrum ended and were seen out of the O2, but it was a really exciting and fulfilling experience. And I think AEW for allowing me to report live from the event. I hope that maybe I will be able to do some more things with AEW when they come to my hometown of Cardiff in December.

Ok that’s my Forbidden Door experience I hope you all enjoyed it. And I hope you all enjoy Clash in Paris this weekend. I will be back with my thoughts on that PLE next week.

As always you can follow me on X via @Wrestle_G you will find lots of videos and photos of my view of Forbidden Door, you can also check some of it out on TikTok as well via: @wrestleg

But for now,

Until next time,

Cheers,

G