AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Wins 2022 Daily DDT Event of the Year
By Bill Yankowy
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door picked up the most votes for the 2022 Daily DDT Event of the Year.
This past year was a fantastic year for pay-per-views and premium live events. So many great shows with some incredible matches, however only one show could be named the 2022 Event of the Year. The writers voted and the winner is AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door.
Before I talk about the event here are the results from the voting.
- AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door: 29%
- Three events tied at 17%
- WWE Summerslam: 11%
Forbidden Door was a dream show featuring the biggest names from AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The fans didn’t leave the United Center in Chicago disappointed at all. Twelve matches each with its own story to bring to the table.
The event featured some of the best performances of the year inside the wrestling ring. From Clark Connors’s breakout performance to Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi in a mix of brawling and wrestling, the event had just about everything you could ask for.
A highlight of the show was the mystery opponent for Zack Sabre Jr. While the original match was to be against Bryan Danielson, the American Dragon couldn’t compete due to injury. His replacement was very suitable as we saw the AEW debut of Claudio Castagnoli.
This was a dream match for wrestling fans around the world, especially in Europe where both Sabre and Castagnoli got their start in the business.
Another highlight from the event and a serious talk of maybe the match of the year was the match for the IWGP United States Championship between champion Will Ospreay and challenger Orange Cassidy. Cassidy is a perfect example of never judging a book by its cover and on this night against one of the top ten wrestlers in the world in Ospreay, Cassidy had one of his best matches in AEW.
While Ospreay was able to retain the IWGP United States Championship, Orange Cassidy had won a lot of fans and set up a great second half of his 2022 wrestling year. He would go on to win the AEW All-Atlantic championship from Pac several months later and this match was a great build for Cassidy and his momentum for quality matches the rest of the year.
FTR had a great night on this show as they were able to continue to become the belt collectors of tag team wrestling. Going into the Winner Takes All three-way match for both the IWGP and Ring of Honor Tag Team titles they had in possession of the AAA Tag Team titles and the Ring of Honor tag team titles.
Neither injury nor the opponents of this match, United Empire and Roppongi Vice would be able to deny Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood their place in wrestling history and atop the mountain of tag team wrestling. A crowning achievement for FTR as they would go on to defend all three titles around the world for the remainder of 2022.
The veterans show up when it matters most. Minoru Suzuki, Sting, and Billy Gunn brought their best when it mattered. While Billy Gunn’s match was on the pre-show, Gunn was able to play a key role in an eight-man tag team match where his team won defeating members of the New Japan LA Dojo & Yuya Uemura.
Minoru Suzuki, perhaps the scariest human being walking the face of the Earth, was in a six-man tag team match with Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara. Suzuki helped them get the win over Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino & Wheeler Yuta. Then, Sting was in a six-man tag team match with his protégé Darby Allin & Shingo Takagi to face the Young Bucks & El Phantasmo and dived off the top of the entranceway to start the match. His team would go on to win and show the younger wrestlers that this legend still has it.
AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door delivered just about everything you could’ve asked for. Great wrestling, big names, and unforgettable moments. That’s why Forbidden Door was voted by the staff of Daily DDT as the 2022 Event of the Year.