(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada – AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door 2023

When AEW first announced this match it was all the convincing I needed to buy a ticket. Even though AEW’s regular product is, for me, hit or miss, Bryan Danielson versus Kazuchika Okada was something I really wanted to see in person. At the time I was still a big Okada fan and was hoping he would bring some of the magic from earlier in his career to this show. As for Danielson he has a laundry list of tremendous matches, many of which still hold up well today and a lot of those were first-time encounters or otherwise “cold matches” that didn’t have the most heated or complex of backstories. So even though this match didn’t have the deepest ~LORE~ behind it I still thought it was watching live and not through a screen.

Unfortunately, despite a strong effort, this was not the instant classic it was hyped up to be.

The Story

A few weeks earlier at NJPW Dominion 6.4, the Blackpool Combat Club trio of Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino challenged the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team champions, those being Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii. Despite losing, the BCC unveiled a video package after the match in which their other member, Bryan Danielson, challenged Okada to a singles match. Danielson still believed himself to be the best wrestler in the world – regardless of whether or not he held title gold to prove it – and wanted to face anyone else to claim the same thing. That included Okada, who had been positioned as both the ace of New Japan and quite possibly the biggest active wrestling star in all of Japan as well. Danielson, believing that his days as an active wrestler were beginning to run out in earnest this time, wanted to cap his main-event career with as many “dream matches” as possible which included at least one match with Okada. Even though the story justification for this match was threadbare at best, enough people bought into the idea that these two men could create magic together, myself included.

But would they really? This was only Danielson’s second match since March and given how well that match went he had a high standard to live up to in a match that, all things considered, didn’t have all that much heat. As for Okada, he was a proven master of conditioning and pacing but had become VERY formulaic, especially since 2020. Still, formulaic or not Okada was still being routinely showered with praise both in his home country and abroad. Many critics routinely stated that Okada having a **** or higher match was basically another day at the office for him, which made him ideal for this crosspromotional show involving both New Japan and AEW.

The Match

This took place on June 25, 2023. It was rated ****3/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This particular version of the match doesn’t have commentary which is a bonus because I sometimes find Excalibur annoying. The crowd’s chanting “this is awesome” even though neither man has moved. Danielson work the left arm as some fans start a chant of “you’re gonna get your fucking head kicked in”. Okada sweeps the leg but Danielson counters into a cross armbar attempt. A test of strength ensues and the crowd chants for Okada and then “both these guys”. Okada resists a surfboard so Danielson stomps on both of his knees. Okada lands a shoulderblock and sends Danielson into a corner. Danielson flips out of it, both men duck each other flying off the ropes, and Okada lands a big back elbow. Danielson sells his jaw but the camera zooms in and you can clearly see the smile on his face. Dude’s clearly having fun.

The crowd quietens noticeably here (I’ll get to that later) as Okada sends Danielson into a barricade and then boots him over it. Okada attempts a hanging DDT off the barricade but Danielson counters and sends Okada shoulder-first into the side of the ring and then into a post. Danielson hits a baseball slide dropkick and a knee from the apron. Back in the ring Danielson lands a diving knee to Okada’s arm for two. Dueling “let’s go Dragon/Okada” chants as Danielson works the arm. Okada gets a ropebreak so Danielson hits his seated elbows to the collar and locks in Cattle Mutilation out of nowhere. A chickenwing cover gets Danielson two. Danielson hits corner strikes when Okada suddenly stops selling and walks out. Okada braces for more strikes and Danielson indulges him with a roundhouse kick. Stiff forearm exchange. Danielson charges but runs into a flapjack.

Danielson tries a misdirection off the ropes but Okada counters with a big boot. A corner splash/DDT combo gets Okada two. Danielson fights out of a reverse neckbreaker with an uppercut but soon finds himself in a corner where Okada dropkicks him from the top rope to the floor. Danielson reverses a whip into the barricade but Okada counters a charge and sends Danielson chest-first onto said barricade. Okada with a crossbody into the stands which brings the crowd to their feet.

Back in the ring Okada starts working over Danielson’s right arm and locks in the Money Clip. Danielson powers Okada into a corner to break free but then runs into a Reverse Neckbreaker. Okada sets up an avalanche Tombstone or something but Danielson fights out with elbows. Diving shotgun dropkick. Both guys trade uppercuts. Try as they might, Kobashi/Sasaki this is not. They keep trading strikes until Danielson suddenly blocks one. Okada attempts a discus Rainmaker. Danielson blocks and tries a crossface. Okada resists and attempts a Tombstone. Danielson fires off another uppercut. Okada dropkicks him into the ropes. Danielson blocks Heavy Rain and lands a German suplex. Danielson hits two running dropkicks and goes for a third…only for Okada to hit first with his own standing dropkick instead.

Danielson avoids a Rainmaker so Okada lands another dropkick off the ropes. Okada goes for a top-rope diving elbow but Danielson catches him in a cross armbar attempt. Okada resists so Danielson wrestles into a Fujiwara armbar. Then into a crossface. Okada gets a ropebreak and ends up sitting on the apron, at which point Danielson punts his spine. Danielson attempts a suicide dive but ends up on his feet ringside. Okada attempts another Rainmaker. Danielson ducks and lands another shotgun dropkick. Then he fires off roundhouse kicks. But when he attempts a big wind-up one Okada counters with a Tombstone on the entrance ramp.

Back in the ring Okada lands a diving elbow, does his Rainmaker pose, and goes for his finisher. However Danielson isn’t budging which leads to the referee asking Okada to back off as he checks on Danielson. Apparently that elbow drop landed awkwardly and injured Danielson’s right arm so now he has to stall. The crowd boos this. Danielson appears to be seizing up. Okada isn’t buying this and goes for his finisher again. Well so much for the referee exercising power to make the wrestlers back off. Anyways, that all ends up being a ruse as Danielson avoids the Rainmaker again and connects with a Busaiku Knee. Both men collapse.

Okada attempts a German but Danielson lands on his feet and lands another knee for two. “Kick his fucking head in” he exclaims as he grabs one arm and proceeds to stomp Okada as hard as he can. It’s at this point that Danielson’s later-reported arm injury actually becomes noticeable. Danielson tries applying the crossface with only one fully functional arm but Okada counters into a sudden cover for two. Danielson hits a Misawa rolling elbow with the bad arm followed by a roundhouse kick. He tries a third running knee strike. Okada hits first with a dropkick. Danielson no-sells but runs into a Michinoku Driver. Rainmaker connects. Danielson kicks out. Okada ~MAINTAINS WRIST CONTROL~ and lands another Rainmaker that somehow lacks impact yet still makes Danielson crumple to the mat. Then a third one lands. Okada goes for a fourth but Danielson suddenly ducks and charges out of a corner. Okada sidesteps, goes for the ripcord, misses his finisher, and ends up trapped in another crossface. Okada resists with all his might. Danielson turns this into a double armlock using his left leg for added pressure. Okada tries breaking free so again Danielson has to use his leg in place of his arm to twist his opponent’s arms. Okada has no choice but to tap. Danielson wins!

Winner after 27:47: Bryan Danielson

You can watch the full match here.

Review

I remember watching this match live in attendance and being completely exhausted before the opening bell even rang. Not because their wrestling was poor, but because I and many of the people in the venue spent most of our energy on the Kenny Omega/Will Ospreay match that took place not one hour earlier. Even with the six-man tag match placed between them as the unintended bathroom break match so many people started this match far more subdued compared to earlier. While the video uploaded by AEW above makes the crowd sound loud at the start much of it died down after the first few minutes. Maybe this is unintentional, but AEW having such long PPVs filled with multiple matches competing with each other on which one will steal the show runs the risk of deflating both the live audience and those watching at home. I’m saying this with the best intentions but having multiple bangers on one show and showcasing a wrestling style meant to encourage fan participation runs the very real risk of exhausting the audience and making them less patient and more desperate for the show to end. Though this wasn’t anywhere as egregious as some 2010s WrestleManias that went so long I could feel myself aging it’s still a poor booking/promoting choice for any promoter to wear their audience down with an overabundance of similar and at times repetitive content.

With that out of the way, looking back at this match I can honestly say that it was quite a step down from Danielson’s match with MJF from Revolution 2023, which isn’t only the best match in AEW history but the best match of the decade thus far by a country mile. While on paper this match came across as something worthy of all the stars it didn’t come across that way in practice. Even though these guys had solid chemistry there wasn’t anything really organic about the action as it unfolded. I’ve seen countless Okada matches from the moment the Rainmaker character debuted in 2012 to the present day and this was, by Okada standards, a paint-by-numbers affair. Even though he’s a very well-conditioned athlete and has a pretty solid match formula even someone like him gets repetitive over time. And considering how settled he has become in recent years this match just doesn’t stand out. Even with a dancing partner as unpredictable and dynamic as Danielson the action just came across as repetitive and lacking in spontaneity. If you’ve seen one Okada match since 2016 you’ve seen them all. He cycled through each and every one of his biggest moves like it was a checklist, just with a slightly different order. His selling, especially of both his arm and leg which were targeted by Danielson throughout the match, was spotty. There were many spots that felt contrived and laborious in their setup, like the Tombstone on the ramp and whatever he was doing on the top rope. But worst of all despite Okada’s mechanically sound performance here he didn’t really generate any heat here. While it’s true that this match was built on the very premise of this being a dream encounter there just wasn’t enough depth to the action to really keep the viewer completely invested in it from start to finish.

Going back to Danielson, he seemed to be playing the hits here and wrestled a bit more like the more toned-down WWE version of himself, save for the odd F-bomb and some moves to the head area that likely wouldn’t get approved in that other place. Even before he got hurt Danielson was very much moving more slowly than he did a mere few months ago. Something clearly felt…off…about how he wrestled. It was as though he was scratching the surface with different ideas on how to approach this match yet didn’t stick to any particular strategy, especially since Okada just straight-up no-sold Danielson’s limbwork. As such the overall match came across as rudderless and lacking in any direction.

Unfortunately match’s only real point of intrigue came when Danielson started stalling due to his unexpected injury. Though he deserves respect for spending the next ten or so minutes trying to wrestle with a broken arm I can’t help but question some of his choices. Why would any wrestler with a broken right arm continue attacking with said arm instead of switching to attacking with the other arm to surprise their opponent? Why couldn’t Okada, sensing something was wrong, work attacks to that arm without actually harming him? Why couldn’t either wrestle deviate from their standard formulae and take advantage of an unexpected injury to create legitimate tension? It just seems like a missed opportunity to do something different which and really pull the audience in. instead, the match ended up being more of the same from both men. That’s not to say it was outwardly bad, just nowhere near outstanding or worth revisiting, especially since both men had better matches before this with other people.

Final Rating: ***3/4

Just like the rematch these two would have at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 this match was technically sound but a bit dull and lacking in genuine tension. The build didn’t live up to the hype. Pitting two wrestlers who had never faced off against each other without any real intrigue to sink one’s teeth into isn’t always enough to excite a crowd, and this is coming from someone who believed in the hype and bought a ticket to see this live. Whether we look at this match in isolation or as part of the larger Forbidden Door show it just didn’t deliver as a main-event, especially since both men had showcased much better in the past.

I never thought I’d ever type these words but for the first time both Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay had a better match as Bryan Danielson on the same card. If you’re going to revisit Forbidden Door 2023 for any reason than I strongly recommend looking at that match, if for nothing else than for the sight of Will Ospreay actually showing how well he can be a dickhead of a wrestling heel which he seems much better suited to playing. But if you’re hellbent on seeing Bryan Danielson at his best then to be honest it’s a toss-up between his match with MJF at Revolution and his battle with KENTA at ROH Glory By Honor 2006. As for Okada, he was at his best with the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenny Omega, Naomichi Marufuji, Katsuyori Shibata, and Tetsutya Naito. Most of Okada’s best work can still be found on New Japan world which, thankfully, has restored most if not all of its older material after much of it was lost back in 2024.

Thanks for reading.