Dynamite was LIVE from Buffalo!
I’m a day late watching it!
Hey here’s MJF in his Cool Leather Jacket
Before he can really gets started, he is interrupted by Buffalo’s Own Daniel Garcia. He also has a little jacket! Garcia names the town. WOO! He points out his family. WOO! Garcia’s here to do something to MJF that nobody in the back has ever done before … HE’S GONNA SAY NICE THINGS! This has been done many times, but sure it’s a great bit!
Garcia loves MJF. Just can’t get enough of this guy. He’s inspired Dan so much. Dan wants to be the backbone of AEW. I’d believe in this promo more if it weren’t in Buffalo, honestly. By “believe in” I mean believe that they’re going to give him an actual push, like a real one that isn’t just some squash wins and a promo. MJF shakes Garcia’s hand and thanks him for being nice about MJF being such a great guy Behind the Scenes. MJF puts over Garcia. I check my watch. Eventually MJF acknowledges that they’re both quite short.
In time we get to the point: MJF challenges Garcia for Wembley. And now we’re interrupted by Will Ospreay. You, too, can own a football kit that says WILL OSPREAY BRUV on the front. Ospreay announces that he is a premature ejacul*tor before giving Garcia a shot at the International title next week — and the world title (if he wins it on Sunday). MJF stands in the background, having been upstaged. He and Will share a Dramatic Glance before Will leaves. Ooh MJF is mad. But MJF understands it for Garcia and that he has to focus on that shot against Ospreay. He may have pulled back the Wembley challenge there. Not sure!
Backstage, Swerve and Prince Nana have been watching TV. Swerve suggests Ospreay is putting the cart before the horse. Apparently the live audience can’t hear this, according to their chants.
Shingo Takagi, Titan & Hiromu Takahashi vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta
People in wrestling sure love dumping water on themselves or spitting it all over the place. It might be HHH’s actual biggest contribution to wrestling history. So we’ve got Los Ingobernables de Japon against the BCC to set up Shingo’s Owen Cup match with Bryan Danielson, who is on commentary, and Moxley’s IWGP title match with Tetsuya Naito, who is not in the match.
A fine enough Road to Forbidden Door showcase match, basically. Zoom focus on Moxley vs Shingo to make me really look forward to their big match at the PPV against each other that surely they’re having. Wheeler and Hiromu have a neat moment, then Moxley is sick of being in this match so he hits Hiromu with a chair for the DQ. ***
Post-match, they brawl a bit with the NXT chaos and what have you, and Tetsuya Naito is HERE. I ponder days long gone when this would have been really exciting to me but instead it is 2024. Eventually, they fight. Back in the ring, Takagi beats up Wheeler until Danielson intervenes for a talking-to. No action, though. Danielson and Shingo just showing one another they’re not afraid.
Owen Hart Foundation Cup
Rey Fenix vs Jay White
First round match. Winner moves on to face Jeff Jarrett or the Mystery Man. The 32 people who come out with the two of these guys get ejected before everything starts.
Fenix is Fenix and White is an inconsistent presence in AEW so far. It’s a good match but White just doesn’t have the career momentum that could get me invested. Furthermore, he is Jay White and I’ve never been that wild about him, though I think he has become quite good and all that. It’s just, again, loads of people now are “quite good” at wrestling matches. It doesn’t stand out like it did when somewhere between 10 and 25 percent of a TV roster could be relied on to do a “good match.” White hits the Blade Runner and advances to the semifinal. So much for Rey Fenix’s dream of headlining Wembley. ***¼
Post-match, Christian Cage and his group come down to make it super clear that the Bang Bang Gang and their belts are on the Patriarchy’s radar. BBG not intimidated at all. White not intimidated by Christian at all. Two headstrong tactician sh*t-talkers. Nothing actually happens other than some vibe-setting.
Backstage, the Young Bucks have their tennis sneakers and stand by a TV. Still waiting on these lads to do something interesting with this but basically all we have is Matt doing his mediocre Shawn Michaels promo impression. He even “has some news for you.” They’re mad about losing to The Acclaimed last week or whatever.
The Acclaimed are here
They’re going to talk, starting with Wrestling Open and AIW star Max Caster. Anyway, they plan to win the belts. Now it’s Okada and the Bucks. Okada drops his “bitch” and passes the mic. After this goes on a while, Billy Gunn gives up a spot in a trios challenge to a President, his old friend Tanahashi. So it’ll be Tanahashi and the Acclaimed vs the Bucks and Okada at Forbidden Door. Okada is amused but also not.
Backstage, Renee Paquette is with The Conglomeration, which of course is Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, and Mark Briscoe. Something great and natural happened with this once so now we’re going to force the issue every week, as this is wrestling. Wait, after Mark talks a bit, O’Reilly does a Mark Briscoe promo. He’s evolving. Maybe this is good. O’Reilly with a terrific English impression. Mark enjoys it. Then back to Mark to bring the heat proper, and Kyle again sees how it’s done. Yeah. It’s good. I was too quick to doubt Mark Briscoe. Renee and Orange are left lingering again.
Saraya, Anna Jay & Harley Cameron vs Toni Storm, Mariah May & Mina Shirakawa
Mariah emerges from the tunnel with Toni, then goes backstage again so she can also accompany Mina. They do a bit early where Mina doesn’t tag Toni, instead tags Mariah. Lots of breast shaking. Toni and Mina have their issues, which is a real surprise, I thought they’d get along great. Maybe someday! This moves quick and does its job putting some further effort behind Toni vs Mina. Mina gets the pin.
Post-match, Mariah gives them both a drink, they toast, and then Shirakawa tries to hit Toni with a champagne bottle in jealousy of Mariah’s attentions, but Toni ducks and Mina cracks it over Mariah’s head. Unbelievable. It all gets pretty camp, which is fine. I mean it’s a dumb storyline and Toni’s whole thing is believing she’s the lady from Sunset Boulevard or whatever, how seriously can anything be treated.
Backstage, Mercedes Mone talks. Stephanie Vaquer has a match Saturday on Collision and Mercedes says she’ll be ringside.
Oh, it’s Chris Jericho and friends
The crowd must have forgotten they hate Jericho forever. Jericho has coopted “sickos.” Since Bryan Keith is hurt, they need a new partner for their trios at Forbidden Door against Joe, Hook, and Shibata. They have a video to announce that partner. I’m assuming it’s Suzuki.
Yeah it’s Suzuki. And it’s not a video. It’s a JPEG. Oh, no, it’s a video, they just didn’t play it at first. Instead, it’s a video of Suzuki turning it down and challenging Jericho to a one-on-one match. Jericho doesn’t answer but here comes Joe, Hook, and Shibata. Shibata’s robot speaks to Jericho: “Oh, brother. This guy sucks.”
Jericho slaps Joe. I kinda dig this, man. Jericho’s embarrassed and pissed off and makes a rash decision there, but I mean, he is a legend, too. Joe thinks about it, thinks about it … and headbutts Jericho. The Learning Tree lads get chased out quick.
Kyle O’Reilly vs Zack Sabre Jr
Orange joins commentary. Taz wants to know why he’s called “Orange” — “Because I’ll trademark that word, ‘orange.’”
“These two men are doing moves that I … don’t know how to do,” Orange says.
Rod Strong and the boys are ringside, including Gabe Kidd. Taz is mad at Zack’s orange underpants still so he’s rooting for Orange. Nobody’s calling this match, which is alright, really, because the people who care are seeing it and they’re doing, you know, first act Sabre vs O’Reilly wrestling. There’s a problem with that, though, which is that this is an AEW midcard TV match and they’re not going to get 20 or 30 minutes to get through the rest. And they do not. Strong and Kidd get a little combative because Kidd gets combative with everyone he sees. Sabre gets the armbar for the submission. It is a good match, but largely one that stays in first gear. ***½
Post-match, Orange Cassidy comes down to check on his pal Kyle, and then Roddy, Taven, and Bennett jump into the ring. Kidd seems unsure of why. Orange and Sabre chat with one another while Roddy, Taven, and Bennett check on O’Reilly. Sabre’s pals Robbie Eagles and Shane Haste hop in next, but with Orange surrounded, here comes Tomohiro Ishii, who just walks right through the three of them to square up with Orange. And NOW Gabe Kidd, who sees a fight brewing, is up on the apron screaming at everyone in sight. This was more NXT-y type stuff but worked well, especially once Kidd just started Guy Ritchie character-ing everyone.
Gates of Agony vs Will Ospreay & Swerve Strickland
Bill and the Podcaster gotta be -1800 here. Could be even longer odds for GoA but you have to take into account attempts to coexist and GoA being an experienced tag team. On that note we’ve all seen a million of these. Yes, GoA hang around well, competitive match. Yes, the Individuals manage to coexist long enough and win. ***
Post-match, Ospreay yanks Swerve’s belts away, but this time, Swerve stomps his knee and drops him with the House Call, leaving Ospreay out on the canvas as the show ends.
GRADE: B-
Go up a notch to a B, maybe? Nothing huge on this “go-home” Dynamite, but Forbidden Door isn’t your average PPV with overwhelming personal stakes up and down the card. It’s a show for their diehard audience. Is what it is.
Three Stars of the Show
Samoa Joe: He roasted a dude into slapping him so that he could headbutt him and start a group brawl. That’s our Joe!
Jon Moxley: Moxley’s the rare guy where you can just have him hit someone with a chair at random and even when you know it’s a cheap way to get out of anyone having to lose the match, you can look at the character and say, “Yeah, OK.” You know it doesn’t happen in any meaningful situation, but here? Sure. Jon Moxley got annoyed that this match was still happening, or he simply wanted to hit someone with a chair. Or both!
Gabe Kidd: I found his ranting and raving particularly amusing during all that body-gathering in the ring.
