3 things that went right at AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door 2022

Amidst all the bad injury luck All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling suffered leading into the inter-promotional Forbidden Door pay-per-view and the trepidation in the build-up to the event given the uncertainty over who could show up, both companies can look back at this maiden venture of a supershow as a success.

Of course, the show’s buyrate will ultimately tell us how fruitful this partnership is, but from a critical standpoint, Forbidden Door left fans with few things to quibble about. Most of the matches on the main show ranged from really good to match of the year contender and the consistently hot crowd enhanced the viewing experience.

From a booking perspective, AEW made a few shrewd decisions that fit with the stories it has crafted and the momentum the wrestlers have built.

These are three things that went right at AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door.

Jon Moxley wins the interim AEW World Championship

Despite a mid-match ruckus in the audience, Forbidden Door’s main event between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jon Moxley for the interim AEW World Championship lived up to the lofty expectations fans had for it.

A match several years in the making, the two aces of their respected promotions rewarded the fans’ patience by presenting them with a sometimes scientific, often times violent struggle over AEW’s most treasured prize.

In the end, Moxley hit the Paradigm Shift DDT on Tanahashi to score the pin and the interim AEW Title, a decision that re-positions Mox as the promotion’s lead babyface until CM Punk (who’s still the official AEW World Champion) returns from his injury. Given how over Moxley is and the quietly great year he’s having in the ring, it’s hard to argue against strapping him up.

Plus, it will be nice to see him get a sustained run with the belt in front of full crowds.

FTR wins the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship

Speaking of putting titles on hot acts, FTR continued to bolster their case for 2022 Tag Team of the Year with their win over Roppongi Vice and the United Empire’s Jeff Cobb & The Great O’ Kahn, adding the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to their impressive collection of tag titles.

Even with the odd decision to tease a Dax Harwood shoulder injury to make their eventual win seem more valiant (FTR has already won over the crowd and didn’t need this gimmick to make their win mean something), the teams’ distinct styles meshed to create a fun triple threat match.

As for the result, this always felt like a means to put more belts on FTR, and rightfully so. As good as the other two teams are, neither is as over as FTR is now, so keeping that momentum going made the most sense.

Jericho Appreciation Society wins the man advantage for Blood and Guts

Over the last few years, we’ve seen WWE struggle to manufacture heat for its War Games matches thanks to the promotion’s baffling need to give the babyfaces the person advantage in these matches. Thankfully, AEW hasn’t fallen into the same trap.

Now, as little sense as it made to put the man advantage for Blood and Guts (the War Games equivalent that mirrors War Games more than WWE’s version) on the line in a match where only three of the participants will take part in the gory stipulation match (another reason why a match shouldn’t decide this), AEW gets credit for not overthinking this and booking the heels to win.

Next time, AEW should decide the advantage with a coin flip, but this worked, too.