The SmarK Rant for AEW Forbidden Door 2026 – 06.28.26
By Scott Keith on 30 June 2026
The SmarK Rant for AEW Forbidden Door 2026 – 06.28.26
Live from San Jose, CA
Your hosts are Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness & Walker Stewart
The Young Bucks v. Titan & Shingo Takagi v. Mistico & Mascara Dorada
We get some flips from Dorada and Nick to start, and then the Bucks double-team Dorada with the double stomp off the middle rope. Over to Shingo, and he rudely slams Dorada to block a takedown and Titan gets a springboard splash for two. The Bucks double-team Mistico and send him to the floor, and then Titan ducks the superkicks and hits them with a double rana before everyone piles up on the floor for a trainwreck spot. Back in the ring, Sky Team double-teams Titan and Dorada gets a swanton for two. Matt hits Dorada with the rolling suplexes, but Takagi breaks it up. Nick gets a hot tag and runs wild, but Sky Team hits them with the Area Code Kick and we get another trainwreck dive on the floor. Back in for a SUPERKICK PARTY, but Takagi lays everyone out and we get everyone throwing big moves until everyone is out. Mistico takes Takagi to the top rope for a Spanish fly that gets two, and then Nick hits Titan with a 450 and Dorada hits them both with a shooting star press. Mistico with La Mistica on Takagi, but the Bucks break that up. Shingo and Titan double-team Mistico, but the Bucks take him out with superkicks and catch Titan on a dive attempt that they turn into the Meltzer Driver to finish at 17:44. Just the usual Bucks match but a good all-action opener, despite the incredibly obvious finish. ***1/2.
Kenny Omega v. Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack takes him down and ties him up in a cradle for two right away as Walker does a neat explanation of how Zack is more like a jazz musician who wrestles in a free flowing state rather than being concerned with setting up moves. Zack escapes a test of strength and kicks Kenny into the corner, but runs into a boot. Kenny sends him to the floor and follows with a dive, but Zack uses some SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION to cut him off, bending the fingers on the railing. But Kenny runs him into the table a few times and dives off the apron with a double stomp for fun. Kenny wants a suplex from one table to the other, but Zack blocks him and wraps him up in the Octopus hold on the table. Where it hurts more. Back to the apron and Zack gives Kenny’s arm a mighty stomp out there, prompting the crowd to chant something that sounds like “You’re a shithead” from what I can tell. Back to the arm in the corner and Zack beats on him with kicks to the shoulder and follows with a running kick, but Kenny hits his own and follows with the facebuster. Zack bails and Kenny hits him with the Terminator Dive. Back in with a missile dropkick and that gets two. Kenny with a neckbreaker to set up the V-Trigger, but when he makes his “pew pew” taunt, Zack grabs the hand and snaps the fingers. Now THAT was awesome, the most ZSJ thing possible. They trade chops and Zack fires away with forearms, but Kenny takes him down with the snapdragon for a double down. Omega up first with another snapdragon and he beats on Zack with knees for two. Kenny tries for an armbar and Zack is able to block that and kick Kenny in the face to escape. “The early bird gets the worm but it’s the second mouse who gets the cheese” notes Nigel wisely.
Zack takes him down and starts cranking on the arm in various painful ways, but Kenny makes the ropes. So Zack smashes the arm again with another stomp and Kenny fights back with more chops until Zack drops him again. So Kenny hits him with a knee strike after absorbing Zack’s offense, but he can’t get Zack up for anything due to the arm. Zack charges and Kenny nails him with a lariat and follows with a V-Trigger in the corner to set up the One Winged Angel. But he aims too high and tries it from the top rope, which allows Zack a chance to counter with a choke up there. Kenny falls back with a slam from there to escape and it’s a double down. Omega is up first and he hits Zack with a knee to the face to knock him out, but he winds up again and Zack caches him in an anklelock and then kicks him in the face with a PK. So Kenny hits him with the poison rana for two. Zack counters the V-Trigger into a rollup for two, so Kenny piledrives him and it’s another double down. Zack is up first, but Kenny hits him with a V-Trigger while he struggles to get up, and then Zack counters the One Winged Angel into a deep cradle for two. Zack Driver gets two. Those were some crazy near falls. Zack goes back to the fingers and they slug it out until Kenny drops him with a snapdragon, V-Trigger, and One Winged Angel attempt #3, but Zack suddenly reverses him into a triangle choke in mid-air. Omega powerbombs out of that and hits him with another knee, and then back up for another One Winged Angel, and that one finally finishes at 26:20. This was some HIGH LEVEL pro graps! *****1/2. I love that ZSJ is just so different from everyone else on the card, but he can still hang with anyone and do his own crazy submission style.
Continental title: Jon Moxley v. Bandido
They trade wristlocks to start and the crowd doesn’t really appreciate Moxley and his attitude. So Mox offers up a free shot and Bandido obliges, leading to a chop exchange and a slugfest. Bandido tries a springboard and Mox sweeps the leg and takes him to the floor for a tope suicida of his own, but then Bandido pops up in the ring and hits a tope con hilo. Now we need Bandido v. Omega in the battle of PEW PEW, come to think of it. Back in the ring, Bandido misses a charge and Mox tosses him for a brawl out there again, which results in Mox piledriving him on the stairs. Bandido manages to get busted open under the mask, so Moxley is more than happy to bite that cut regardless. Back in the ring, Mox tears at the mask to work on the cut and the crowd HATES that. Moxley hits him with a short clothesline and continues smashing the cut with elbows, drawing mega heat from the crowd. Moxley slugs on him in the corner, but Bandido hits him with a running powerbomb to escape. Moxley again bites the cut, so Bandido puts him down with a sky twister press and comes back to slug away in the corner and follows with a knee strike for two. Bandido with the one armed press slam and he goes up with a frog splash, but that hits the knees. They slug it out with kicks and Bandido fires up with a german suplex, but Moxley counters the 21 Plex with a lariat and follows with the Death Rider for two. Moxley offers his own PEW PEW and goes up for an elevated version of the Death Rider, but Bandido fights him off and brings him down with a moonsault fallaway slam for two. 21 Plex follows, but he slips onto the apron and Moxley chokes him out from behind and then hauls him in for the Bulldog choke. Bandido powers out of that, but Moxley hangs on tight and puts him out at 18:11 to retain. Thought they were 100% going for the 20:00 draw there. Another awesome performance from Bandido, and Moxley gives him the handshake of respect afterwards. ****1/2
IWGP Global title: Shota Umino v. Pac
This will be an interesting one because New Japan fans are NOT buying the Umino push and I wonder if this crowd will follow suit. Pac stomps him down in the corner and they fight to the floor, where Pac runs him into the railing and puts the boots to him. Back in the ring, Pac hits him with a missile dropkick for two. Umino comes back with a northern lights suplex for two and then DDTs him on the apron as the crowd is pretty quiet for this one. Pac retreats to the other side of the ring, so Umino dropkicks him into the railing and follows with a draping DDT off the railing, and back in for a powerbomb that gets two. Pac counters a charge with an overhead suplex into the corner, however, and puts the boots to him before retrieving a table. Umino fights him off, so Pac hits him with a moonsault to the floor and back in the ring. They fight to the top and Pac brings him down with a belly to belly from the top, and that gets two. They slug it out and Pac wins that battle, but Umino fires up and puts Pac down with his own forearms. Umino absorbs a pair of german suplexes, but Pac powerbombs him through the table at ringside and that pretty much kills his fighting spirit. Back in, Pac hits him with a 450 for two and goes to the Brutalizer, but Umino makes the ropes. Pac goes up again, but Umino dodges him and comes back with a headbutt and Shining Wizard for two. Pac counters the lariat with a poison rana, but a second one hits and gets two. Umino with a Paradigm Shift and the Northern Lights Bomb to finish at 18:10 and retain the title. Umino looked a bit rough here but Pac got a hell of a match out of him by sheer willpower and Umino showed good babyface fire and got himself over good enough by the end. ****
(At this point in the original airing it’s way too late at night and I have to tap out and start again in the morning)
(OK we’re back and WHAT THE FUCK THERE’S STILL THREE HOURS OF THIS SHOW LEFT?!?)
AEW World Women’s title: Thekla v. Starlight Kid
Thekla gets an awesome fire-blowing entrance as she continues to rule. Kid dropkicks Thekla to the floor, but Thekla stomps her down and ties her up on the mat. They slug it out and Thekla hits a kick from the ropes, but Kid dropkicks her to the floor again, so Thekla yanks her off the apron to prevent a dive. Thekla runs her into the railing while doing running commentary for her own match. But then she goes after the STARDOM president and Kid saves him, drawing surprising boos. Back in the ring, Thekla chokes her out and gets two. Kid comes back with a standing moonsault and gets two. Kid goes to work on the knee and tries for the stretch muffler, but Thekla rakes the eyes to escape. Starlight to the top and Thekla brings her down with the spider suplex, but she talks too much as usual and Kid dropkicks her to the apron and hits her with a Michinoku Driver out there. Back in the ring for a fisherman’s suplex that gets two. To the top for a moonsault, but that misses and Thekla spears her. But the stomp misses and it’s a double down. They slug it out and the crowd starts to get more into it with a dueling chant, although they’ve been pretty dead for this one overall. Thekla boots her down and goes up with a flying bodypress for two. Kid counters another spear with a dropkick and hooks the stretch muffler, before swinging her around and then hooking all the limbs. But Thekla makes the ropes. Michinoku Driver gets two. Kid to the top with a moonsault for two. These are apparently supposed to be Kid’s big killer moves but we’ve never seen her before so the crowd has no way of knowing. Thekla with a rollup for two and she follows with a spear for two. Curb stomp follows and then she points to the president and does it a second time for the pin at 18:51. Match was technically excellent after some initial slowness, although my only real issue is that we’ve never seen Kid in AEW before, so the big moves lacked drama. And of course, the result was never in doubt. ***3/4. And then Thekla steals the mask and beats on Taro Okada with it and he sells it like he’s being beaten with a baseball bat.
AEW World tag team title: Cage & Cope v. The Dogs
Connors beats on Cage in the corner, but Cage gets a sunset flip for two and it’s over to Cope. He puts Finlay in a headlock and works on the arm, and it’s back to Cage as he slugs away on Connors before charging and running into the post to injure his injured arm yet again. Back in the ring, Finlay works on the arm and we get a weird spot where Clark lights a match and then rubs it in Christian’s face for some heat. The match certainly needs it. To the floor and they put Cage’s arm under the stairs and try to stomp it, but Cope saves and tosses Cage back in the ring for the hot tag. He slugs away on them and hits Finlay with the Impaler for two. But then the Dogs double-team him to take over again before taking out Christian on the floor. Back in with the high-low on Copeland for two. Cage comes back in a spear on Finlay, but Clark takes out the ref to save the pin and we get a spear showdown between him and Copeland. Finlay knocks out Cage with the Whacking Stick, but the lights go out and SWITCHBLADE is back! Blade Runner for Finlay and the spear finishes at 16:52. Match wasn’t much at all and the crowd was mostly dead for it, but the Bang Bang Gang popped the crowd huge. **1/2. That being said, this match could have been an email and didn’t feel PPV worthy whatsoever.
Owen Hart Women’s tournament final: Maya World v. Mercedes Mone
Maya gets a pair of rollups for two and takes her down for a crossface attempt, but Mone escapes that. They head to the floor and Mercedes takes over out there, but Maya cradles her and rolls into a suplex for two. They fight to the top and Mercedes sends her to the apron for a meteora on the floor, and then back in for another one in the ring that gets two. Another gets two. Mone tosses her and counts along with the crowd but then throws Maya back in at “10” even though Aubrey wasn’t counting for whatever reason. She chokes Maya out in the corner as this thing is DYING. They fight over a tombstone and Mone rolls into a double stomp for two. Maya with a springboard into a cutter for two. Shining Wizard lands too close to the ropes, and Mone gets the Three Amigos and she’s clearly the babyface here. Mercedes with the frog splash, but they hit the knees and Maya gets a cradle for two. Mercedes with the Bank Statement, but Maya reverses for two. Maya comes back with a pair of bridging fallaway slams and then dumps Mercedes with a third one. Back in, Maya goes up with a splash for two and they do an awkward reversal sequence in the corner where Mercedes was supposed to powerbomb her in the corner but couldn’t get her up for it. So she does a sunset flip bomb instead for two. Maya reverses the lungblower, but Mone rolls her into the Moneymaker for two. Maya with a bridging cradle for two and a sunset bomb to the floor, and she follows with a moonsault that misses by a mile. Back in for another moonsault and that gets two. Maya rolls her into a crossface, but Mercedes reverses to her own and rolls her over for two. Maya reverses for two, but Mercedes hits a backstabber and this time taps her out with the Bank Statement at 24:22 to win the tournament. The first half was ROUGH due to Maya having stage fright, but Mone held it together and they got the crowd by the end. ****1/4
Steel Cage match: MJF, Kyle Fletcher, Andrade el Idolo, Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada & Jake Doyle v. Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly
So we’ve got a bizarre round cage surrounding the ring and everyone brawls to start as the Callis Family is all wearing white t-shirts that will no doubt be covered in blood by the end. Doyle powerbombs Darby into the cage and they smash Briscoe’s head into the cage a few times to take him out and set up a table. But then Andrade and MJF try to show each other up, allowing Kyle O’Reilly to find a Nintendo system under the ring and then blow on the cartridge before smashing it into Fletcher’s head. Next up, Briscoe finds thumbtacks, but Doyle saves and allows Fletcher to slam Mark into the tacks. Next up, MJF and Darby slug it out and tease a bump into the tacks, but of course Darby is the one who takes the facefirst bump into that. And MJF gets two. MJF finds a broom and cleans up the ring for huge heat, but Orange shows up and produces a bag of orange slices so that Team Briscoe can have a hydration break. Fletcher breaks that up, so they squeeze orange juice into his cuts in an incredibly goofy spot.
Next up, we get a showdown between Okada and Takeshita and they’re STILL got heat as they slug it out. So Takeshita finds his backpack and digs deep before finding a middle finger. Protokada double-team Takeshita, but that goes badly for them and Takeshita suplexes both guys. Next up, Kevin Knight slugs it out with Darby and dropkicks a chair into his face in the corner to get rid of him. MJF beats on Briscoe and loads up the diamond ring, but then Lio Rush pops out of a hockey bag as a secret weapon for the Conglomeration and he cleans house. I cannot believe he actually managed to get this fucking gimmick over. But then Okada hits him with the Rainmaker and the Callis Family puts him back in the bag before shoving him under the ring again. Briscoe grabs a ladder and does a Terry Funk tribute before slugging out with MJF, and Strong puts Doyle through the table at ringside. Andrade rams a chair into Kyle’s face with the double knees, but Takeshita gets rid of him. Take fights on the apron with Okada and then puts Fletcher through another table with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Darby with a death drop on MJF and the coffin drop, but Knight tries to save and hits MJF with the flying splash by mistake. Knight goes to the cage and climbs up there with Darby, but Kevin finds another backpack and it’s BOOBYTRAPPED, exploding in his face and causing him to bump through another table in a crazy spot. And then Darby adds a coffin drop just to be fully crazy. Back in the ring, Briscoe hits MJF with the Jay Driller, but Doyle saves. So MJF demands that Andrade help finish Briscoe off, but of course MJF swings with the ring and Andrade has had enough and puts MJF down with the elbow to knock him out. Doyle protests, so Andrade kicks him in the nuts and reveals a shirt that says “Fuck Don, Fuck MJF”, and Briscoe hits a Jay Driller on Doyle and pins him at 31:00 to win the title shot. This was once again their cartoonish super-violence match, with extra Bugs Bunny thanks to the running gag of the backpacks, and it mostly worked but needed something like staggered entrances to help the pacing. Going 30 minutes with all 12 guys crammed into the cage was just too long. The finish with Andrade was spectacular, however. ****
Meanwhile, Mark Briscoeis cashing in his title shot on Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Owen Hart Men’s tournament final: Will Ospreay v. Swerve Strickland
Yes, the winner gets the honor of challenging for the World title on my 29th birthday! They slug it out and Swerve backs off to think it over. Back in, Will dropkicks him to the floor and hits him with a dive. Back in, Will chops him down, but Swerve hits a flatiiner for two. Swerve with a pair of neckbreakers and he goes to a crossface to work on the neck. Will pops up with an enzuigiri and follows with the corkscrew kick and a springboard elbow for two. We get a pair of reversals and Swerve gets two, sending Ospreay to the floor for a brawl out there. Will runs him into the post and goes after the arm, hitting a stomp off the railing and then putting him in an armbar outside while Swerve desperately taps. Finally Nana throws coffee in his face to break it up, allowing Swerve to drop Will on the apron with a powerbomb on the HARDEST PART OF THE RING. He follows with a catapult under an exposed turnbuckle bolt to bust Will open, and back in that gets two. Swerve tries a spear, but Will counters into a Spanish fly for a double down. Ospreay with a Styles Clash for two. Swerve absorbs a Hidden Blade and just smacks Will down with his own elbow shot. Swerve to the top, but Will brings him down with a rana and hits him with a spinning guillotine kick for two. Swerve with a Deadeye for two.
Will bails to the apron, but Swerve misses a Swerve Stomp out there and Will brutally swings him into the stairs. He tries for worse, but Nana interferes again and that allows a bloody Swerve to hit a House Call kick off the stairs. Swerve wants the Vertebreaker off the stairs, but Will reverses to a Styles Clash of sorts onto the announce desk and they’re both out. Back in, Will comes back with the Ozcutter for two and hits him with superkicks, prompting the ref to do a count on Swerve for some reason. That was weird. Swerve is up at 9, so Will hits him with a Hidden Blade for two. To the top, but Swerve beats on the neck and brings him down with a Swerve Stomp on the neck. Swerve tries the Vertebreaker, but Will pops up with a Hidden Blade for one, and Swerve hits a House Call for one, and they’re both down again. So Swerve literally takes off the gloves and Ospreay charges in with a Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker, but that only gets two. Hidden Blade #2 misses and Swerve kicks him in the nuts and hits the Vertebreaker for two. Swerve with his own Hidden Blade and he follows with Big Pressure for two. This brings out the Death Riders to watch at ringside and motivate Will, which is weird since they were 100% heels earlier in the show. Swerve with the House Call kick, but Ospreay fires up with a Hidden Blade for two and then hits a Death Rider before rolling into the Tiger Driver to finish at 35:00 and win a date with the World title on my 28th birthday! I’d like to think I inspired him in a very real way. It feels like the crowd was really tired after 6 hours of this show, along with everyone watching at home, but they delivered everything we were expecting here, with a million big moves and kickouts and reversals. ****1/2
I’m of two minds here, because as usual AEW delivers the goods in the ring and you get your money’s worth from a PPV. However, this show was EXHAUSTING and I literally had to stop halfway through and go to bed before finishing it in the morning. It’s a thumbs up for the work, but honestly there’s nothing here that you need to desperately go out of your way to watch from a storyline point of view and the whole “Forbidden Door” concept is kind of a dead issue because of travel problems anyway.