What's the story, partisans of pseudo provocation?!
A shorter review this week as I found myself both a bit busy and burnt out, but I have good news! I've been feeling much better! A combination of medication changes and lifestyle changes have been making me feel much better and wanting to do my writing more. I need to get out of the habit of leaving it until the last minute, like I've been guilty of lately, but we'll get there. Baby steps.
Let's get into the review for the week, shall we?
 |
| ROH |
Here's what I watched for the week;
AEW Forbidden Door 2026
 |
The Young Bucks vs. El Sky Team vs. Unbound Co. 🟢
An exciting way to open the PPV, this match does what it says on the tin, honestly. You've got a pretty good idea what the Bucks are capable of, Sky Team is fantastic, and Shingo and Titan are fantastic on their own, so it's no surprise they excel as a team. Fast paced full of plenty of exciting counters and dives, there was rarely a moment in this match where something fun and exciting was happening. Great stuff from everyone involved.
Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 🟢
A really fun and exciting match that slowly built to a grand fever pitch, ZSJ and Omega worked beautifully together. Sabre was mnethodical in trying to physically dismantle Omega, who fought back valiantly and took it to Sabre with some hard hitting offence throughout. A fantastic blend of tight, technical wrestling and high-action, Omega-style spot work between the two. It's easy to slot Sabre as the technical wrestler that can't do anything else, but he was landing some solid strikes on Omega and flipping around with him with relative ease. A whole load of fun from these two.
Jon Moxley vs. Bandido 🟢
Taking on the leader of the Death Riders for the Continental Championship, Bandido takes on one of his toughest challenges in a while. Never one to back down from a fight, the ever-valiant 'Dido fights against Moxley tooth and nail, making the champion fight to maintain every advantage he finds. Wearing white should have been a dead giveaway, but the masked challenger starts bleeding after a piledriver on the steps, giving Moxley a significant advantage, the Great White that flourishes when blood is in the water. Bandido is resilient and fights back hard, refusing to stay down and giving Moxley and tough, tough fight. In the end, the champ retains but grants Bandido a handshake, acknowledging respect when it is earned.
Shota Umino vs. PAC 🟢
An interesting match when you consider the history Umino has with Moxley, a man taken under Jon's wing during his time in New Japan that very easily could have been a founding Death Rider had he stuck with Moxley, but forged his own path on his own. Matching PAC's speed, power and agility with impressive speed and power of his own, Umino defends his IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship in this match with everything he's got. The crowd is a bit subdued for this match after Bandido/Moxley, but this doesn't make this match any less fun and exciting. A table on the outside set up by Umino ends up being his to go through, but he is able to fight back and get the better of PAC. Quite a fun match, honestly. Good stuff.
Thekla vs. Starlight Kid 🟢
Continuing her crusade against all things Stardom, Thekla looks to destroy one of Stardom's most well known wrestlers. Vicious and unrelenting in her defence of the title, Thekla takes Starlight all around the ringside area and around the ring, beating her senseless. This is not to say that Starlight does not get her licks in, but Thekla does spend a good portion of this match on top, keeping her challenger on the backfoot more often than not.Starlight nearly ties Thekla up in too many knots for her to escape, but in the end, it's Thekla who gets the better of her masked foe.
Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. The Dogs 🟡
Far and away the weakest match on the card, this tag match would have felt far more fitting on an episode of Dynamite or Collision even than in the middle of a PPV card. I can't help but feel a lot of wind has been taken out of the sails of The Dogs since their debut. Maybe it's the injury of Gabe Kidd, maybe it's the fact that there's too much going on when they debuted, or maybe that they haven't had a really memorable feud or match since showing up, but the sum of their parts should be a great tag team, but this Cope and Cage feud has turned them into a pair of bumbling, laughing bullies. As far as the match, it's incredibly standard and does nothing at all that's overly exceptional. Easily missable. Only thing of note was the return of Jay White, which says everything you need to know about the match.
Mercedes Mone vs. Maya World 🟢
A match that many people considered the match of the night and a match of the year contender, one I thoroughly enjoyed but never really got into that "legendary" gear like everyone else is saying it got to. Opinions are different for everyone, obviously, so your mileage may vary for this match. Maya looked better than she has in any of her Owen matches, and Mone was in typical form here, better than most of the women's roster, easily. A hard fought match for Maya, she looked to have Mone's number on a number of occasions, the drama of this match only getting deeper and deeper the further along it went. Wardrobe and hair issues plagued Maya in this match, which probably didn't help her nerves, but they didn't detract from the action between the ropes. In the end, Mone got the victory, but Maya looked to be a hair away from victory, even in defeat.
Darby Allin, Konosuke Takeshita & The Conglomeration vs. The Don Callis Family & MJF - Steel Cage Match 🟢
A match referred to as "Death's Door," this circular steel cage was everything you'd expect an AEW steel cage match to be. Violent, action packed, and filled to the brim with memorable moments. Kyle-O bringing out a NES to use as a weapon, Don Callis' boys building a table structure with custom DCMJF tables, Orange Cassidy bringing out a bag of Willow-packed orange slices to help fuel them onwards to victory, with the citrus being poured in the eyes and open would of Kyle Fletcher. Thumbtacks from Briscoe and MJF cleaning up the ring to aid his team. Lio Rush made a cameo, being pulled out of the massive bag Roddy Strong brought to the ring, and Kevin Knight ended up going through the table after a backpack was booby trapped on the top of the cage. This was one of the most fun steel cage matches I've seen in a while, with everyone evidently having a whole heap of fun in this.
Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay 🟢⭐
A main event replay 2 years on from their last Forbidden Door main event, this match was just as fun as their last encounter and maybe even a bit better. I fuckin' loved this match. A lot of what I said about their match 2 years ago from my Five Star Friday feature applies in this match as well, shockingly, with both men being about as close to equals as possible, two top dogs at the top of their game, fighting to prove who is the better man. This will no doubt be getting its own Five Star Friday feature, with the story and excitement of this match being far too much to go over in just a standard Weekly Watchlist. Incredible, awesome, exciting and brilliant. Just think of synonym's for those words and you've got my exact thoughts on this match. So, so good.
| Match | Show | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Davis vs. Ace Austin | Global Wars Cincinnati - Day 2 | 06/25/2026 |
• • • • •
 |
| Measuring, preparing. ROH |
Bell To Bell
Now, it may shock some of you that I picked a match not from Forbidden Door, but from a Ring of Honor joint promotion show from a few days prior to Forbidden Door. Honestly, I have a pretty simple reason for it, I wanted to give Mark Davis his flowers.
The other half of Aussie Open along with Kyle Fletcher, I knew the team of Aussie Open was exceptional after watching their tag match against FTR at NJPW's Royal Quest 2022 a few years back, but when Davis got injured and Fletcher was forced to go it alone, I feared for the team, Furthermore, I feared for Davis when Fletcher proved that he was an exceptionally talented singles wrestler. "Surely," I thought to myself, "Davis will just get lost in the shuffle and be relegated to being 'just another wrestler on the roster' when he comes back. Poor guy." But man, I could not be happier to say I was wrong about that thought.
Winning the AEW National Championship off of Jack Perry earlier in the year, Davis has been on a bloody tear of fantastic matches. The moniker of "Dangerous" is extremely fitting for this brute, running through fools left and right on TV with brutal abandon. There is a small part of me that believes this spot was meant to be given to Jake Doyle, with no evidence but my massive love and bias towards Doyle and the fact that he and Davis were a team before Davis went off on his own singles tear, but at this point, I can't complain. Davis rules, Doyle rules, big fuckers that hit hard rule. There, that's my Ted Talk.
Austin tries to gain an early advantage with a wasitlock, but Davis grabs the left arm and wrings him around, trying to get him in a more advantageous position. Austin flips and twists his way out, using his piston-like legs to easily nip up and out of the hold. He tries a side headlock takeover, but Dunkzilla stands firm, backing Austin up to the ropes and nearly chopping a cave into his chest when granting the break. Davis is able to rip Austin over with a version of a hip toss, standing tall in the middle of the ring while Austin measures him in the corner, collecting himself for a moment.
Catching a reboudning Davis while still on the canvas, Austin nearly trips him up, but instead lands a stif kick to the back of the knee, dropping the monster to allow Austin to land a kick to the back. Trying to pick up the much bigger Davis in a squat, the champion fights out, still too fresh to be caught unawares. He tries a bodyslam, but Austin slips behind and back to the ropes. Getting flipped over the top after blocking Davis with a boot, Davis ends up going over the top and down to the floor after charging in to try and shove Austin off the apron.
 |
| Where did he go?! ROH |
Dodging a lariat to the legs, Austin flips into a handstand, flipping back when Davis tries to knock his arm out from under him, landing a knee under the jaw as Davis collects himself after whiffing two sure-fire lariats. Flipping back into the ring, Austin charges for the ropes but Davis slips back in, catching Ace with a big bodyslam in the centre, halting what would have surely been an attempted dive to the floor. A senton keeps him down on the canvas, with Davis laying his knees across the chest of Ace for a pin, but Austin is out quickly, catching his breath.
Again, he tries to squat Davis, but Dunkzilla is still too fresh, slipping off the back of Austin early. DSriving a knee into his gut, Davis runs him across the ring and tosses him through the ropes to the floor, with Ace hitting the steel barricade hard. Seating himself on the top rope, Davis waits for his foe to find himself and return to the ring, getting a breather in the meantime. Back in the ring now, Austin lays into Davis with chops, but they do little to rock the big man, with Davis landing a single chop that drops Austin hard.
Another bodyslam drops Austin hard, with Davis going for the senton again, but Austin slips out of the way, leaving Davis to land in an empty pool. Standing in the corner to collect himself, Austin drops out of the way of a charging Davis, again leaving him to land in an empty pool. Gaining momentum, Austin is able to land a quick flurry in the middle of the ring. A lariat, a back elbow after blocking a Davis lariat, a kick to the gut and a knee to the skull grant Austin a window to drop Davis with a side Russian leg sweep. A leg drop (brother why?) stuns Davis, with Austin standing over his foe, again trying to a squat! He nearly has Davis up, but Mark fights out with back elbow shots to the head.
 |
| Hitting a quick set in the middle of the match. ROH |
Catching a approaching Davis with a kick to the head, Austin is on his knees as Mark rebounds off the ropes, staggering back to the middle of the ring, right onto the shoulders of Austin! Picking up Davis, he not only holds him in a firemans carry, but also squats him! Drilling him with a Death Valley Driver, Austin begins to find an advantage. Davis looks to be stunned on the ropes, but pulls Austin back in after he attempts to head for the opposite side of the ring, shooting him over Davis' shoulders to the apron.
Sniping Davis with a head kick, he staggers to the middle of the ring, with Austin climbing to the top rope to land a big leg drop to the back of Davis' head! A pin is made, but Davis is out at two. Calling for the Fold, Austin charges out from the corner, but Davis blocks with a flapjack. Austin finds himself leaning on the ropes, which is exactly how Davis sets up his devastating lariat. Rebounding next to Austin, he staggers off the ropes, with Davis coming off the other side with vicious speed, but gets caught with a head kick!
 |
| Nice try, tough guy! ROH |
With Davis on the ropes, Austin crossbodies body of them out to the floor, they take time to catch their breath and recover for a moment. Both on their feet, Davis charges Austin, but makes a fatal error. Not slowing down as Austin shifts, Davis eats the ring post hard, staggering as Austin rolls him back inside the ring for a cover, but Davis survives. Lining up Davis for the fold again, Davis is able to catch him with a lariat in the middle and attempts his piledriver, but Austin slips behind and escapes his grasp. He dropkicks Davis into the ropes and uses the reverse momentum to try a rollup, but Davis gets free.
Landing a kick to the back of Austin's head, Davis goes for his signature lariat and cleaves Austin's head from his shoulders. He covers, but Ace gets free! Going for broke, he rips Ace off the canvas with a gutwrench, spiking him heavy with a piledriver for the decisive three count. Dunkzilla retains.
 |
| Spiked. Dunkzilla style. ROH |
Match Time: 9:18
A really fun match, if not a touch unremarkable. Maybe I'm just partial to Davis and Austin, but I really enjoyed this match. It was a fun way to open night 2 of the ROH joint promotion show with some fun action and hard hitting moments. Maybe not something you should see out to see specifically or purchase the show just to see, but if you have a chance to watch this match, don't pass it up!
• • • • •
Until next week. Be well, stay safe, and love one another.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment