Welcome to After 48 on GrapPro where we discuss an All Elite Wrestling pay per view two days after it aired. That way the hot takes cool down and we can think about it with a clear perspective. At least that’s the idea.
In my predictions I discussed the fact I didn’t like the build up from All In London to Forbidden Door. I still stand by it. Especially the go home shows which were a mishmash and spent more time building up announced the night before Zero Hour matches more than several main card matches.
But I also said this, and I quote myself: It’s an AEW pay per view. Their reputation for great pay per view shows is second to none. Nobody is more consistent. Nobody gives you a better bang for your buck.
Forbidden Door 2025 was just another example of that.
The Zero Hour matches were good, some of the best free wrestling you can ask for. El Desperado, Paragon, and Yuya Uemura versus CRU and the Don Callis Family was a great match that really showed Tony Khan’s hand on how much he liked Yuya Uemura. Gates of Agony with Ricochet versus JetSpeed with Michael Oku was fantastic. Oku apparently has an online hate following but I don’t really see from this match why. I know he had a long melodramatic match with Will Ospreay once but here he was an absolute bump and sell machine in making Gate of Agony look like one of the most threatening tag teams in the world.
Then you have the main show where no matches were bad. There were bad moments, and one match (the opener) that felt more like a TV match than a pay per view match, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad TV match. To have that high level of quality for a pay per view is unprecedented in the pro wrestling world. We used to be happy to get two great matches. Now we complain if one or two matches are not great.
The big news coming out of the show is that AEW will be without Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland for some time, with folks already writing about who is going to fill the void. I could kill 2,000 words doing the same but I’ll just tell you: one of my criticism’s of the build up to Forbidden Door was not enough Darby Allin. Now Tony’s hand is forced. Darby has to be one of the central stars of the show. Putting the AEW World Tag Team Championship on Brodido helps elevate Brody King and Bandido. There’s an Orange Cassidy returning soon. The male babyface side will be fine.
Favourite Wrestling Match
TNT Championship
Hiromu Takahashi versus Kyle Fletcher (c)
Oh, did people forget that Hiromu is that motherfucker?
I heard people not looking forward to this and thinking Hiromu was too washed to have a great match with Kyle. Apologize now.
Not only is Kyle Fletcher a fantastic base for Hiromu to work with, but Hiromu had his wrestling shoes on to remind everyone he is every bit capable of working heavyweight style without sacrificing all of what makes him an exciting performer. This is why I loathe weight classes. Hiromu is forever chained to the junior heavyweight division in New Japan Pro Wrestling despite the fact he’s one of the most over acts and can easily work anyone.
This was a great showcase for Kyle Fletcher as TNT Champion to prove he could beat anyone coming into his house, but it was also a reminder of what Hiromu Takahashi can and should be in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He should be headlining Tokyo Dome’s in January. I know he worked before the main event with Tetsuya Naito this year, but in 2024 he was still working for the Junior Heavyweight Championship against El Desperado (another guy who should have moved up to better things) in the middle of Wrestle Kingdom 18. Hiromu should be on the same level of Konosuke Takeshita. Heck, that’s who should be meeting him at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in the main event.
Can’t say enough good things about this match. It just fired me up seeing people say, “Wow I didn’t know Hiromu had this in him still” because I’ve never lost hope in the Time Bomb. Hope to see Fletcher back at defending the TNT Championship in the next few weeks.
Best Wrestling Match
AEW Men’s World Championship
Maxwell Jacob Friedman versus Hangman Adam Page (c)
There’s a lot in my body wanting to not call this the best wrestling match and it is due to my problems with the gimmicks that were done to the match. The ending with several minutes of Hangman’s foot on the rope just so Mark Briscoe could come out and distract MJF without interfering, then allowing Hangman to do something he could be disqualified for behind the referee’s back as “revenge” to Max, before a clean finish? It was a frustrating way to finish the match.
But the match itself? It was absolutely the best match of the night. The work was tight. Max and Hangman have incredible chemistry. So much in fact that the moments I was resisting, the moments of threatening Hangman with a DQ or countout loss? I was enthralled. They willed me into a match stipulation I didn’t want to see with fantastic in-ring work.
MJF has a way of always pulling something out that shows he’s just as much of a sicko as everyone else, and that was his tombstone piledriver running into a half broken table on the outside. Hangman’s responses to MJF and his survival of everything Max could throw at him is why he is the Men’s World Champion.
They wanted to build a match where MJF tried every single trick he could to win and it didn’t work. I wish it wasn’t so gimmick heavy and having to overthink itself on its ideas but I can’t deny that the in-ring action before the silly tricks was beautiful pro wrestling. What I come here for.
More Thoughts After 48
Will Ospreay: Ospreay teased he wasn’t 100% for this match but looked perfectly fine. That is, until the very ending when the Death Riders locked him in the cage to hit him with Multiple Death Riders. I don’t know how long he’s going to be out, but if he’s back for All In London? You got your match. Does that mean Moxley might get the title back? Maybe.
The Young Bucks: Bucks are doing their absolute best work lately and it’s so good it’s going to eventually turn them babyface again. The fact they are slowly bringing Being The Elite back makes me think they know this too. The Bucks are back to being fun loving and not caring so much what people have to say about them. I’d say this is a return to pre-2022 Bucks but they used to care too much of what people would have to say back then. This is a more mature and centered Bucks. Great to see. Also, if you don’t understand that the gummy bear spot was sold for the head drop and the kicks and not the POWER OF THE GUMMY BEAR you should probably just stop watching modern pro wrestling and go to your real passion: waving a fist at a cloud.
Kota Ibushi: Kota looked great. Like, should we be talking about Kota Ibushi as a top guy in All Elite Wrestling? Am I getting a little early on that? Maybe, but wow. I am so impressed with how he’s looked against Okada and in the cage match. Kenny also looked great. Maybe a Golden Lovers tag championship run in the future? I would also love to see Golden Lovers with a partner for the Trios.
Darby Allin: Darby was his crazy usual self, taking a weird ear mutilation spot as well as the top of the cage crash into tables with Gabe Kidd. I would have liked to see him take more of a primary focus in the war against Death Riders but this was all about Will Ospreay. He can do that now.
Swerve Strickland: Swerve, along with Will Ospreay, are going to be out for some time due to surgery. Sounds like surgery was a success so it’s now about how long he’s going to be out. He has someone to get revenge on, which should keep him out of the main event for a bit, but Swerve can go back up whenever they need him to.
Wardlow: What a return for Wardlow. He looks thicker too. Top knot back. The Wardlow fans like I am happy. Would love to see Wardlow lead two guys in the Don Callis Family in victory over The Opps. Heck, you know how Ricochet and Gates of Agony is a flyer and two hosses? How about CRU and Wardlow to have two speed demons with a hoss?
Kazuchika Okada: Keep doubting him dorks. The God of Pro Wrestling. Who should be his next opponent? Would love it to be a returning Orange Cassidy.
Jon Moxley: Moxley definitely got a lot of his heat back and put Death Riders back in the spotlight with his actions on Will Ospreay. He’s back into number one heel status. Kind of tough when he’s already been beaten twice by Hangman Page and the Unified Championship is on a heel. That said, they can focus it now on Darby versus Jon instead of the multi-wrestler matches.
Timeless Toni Storm: Maybe the greatest champion in AEW history?
Athena: I thought Athena did a great job in this program, but now she has to focus on dropping the ROH Women’s World Championship to the right opponent (Mina Shirakawa?) and be full time focused on AEW.
Mercedes Moné: Mercedes continues her journey of winning every belt ever in the world, which is unfortunate she now has to deal with the Philadelphia residency. Not too many good women’s belts to win in the Philly area. Maybe once they get to Canada she can make an appearance in Maple Leaf Wrestling? Gisele Shaw watch your back.
Hurt Syndicate: Rich Latta and James Boyd of One Nation Radio/Social Suplex covered this better than I could. All of the stories they’ve tried to build up go nowhere. They ruin contenders instead of creating exciting challenges. I only watch their matches now to see if they finally drop the titles and they did by having Ricochet and Gates of Agony essentially interfere and distract them. Funny how MVP didn’t make the trip. I don’t know what else you do with them. If I see Bobby Lashley going after Hangman Adam Page I’ll roll my eyes. I like Shelton but who knows how deep he is with Bobby and MVP. I was happy with all of them in AEW but it already feels like this tour is over. You got your Hurt Syndicate moment in AEW. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.
FTR: I expected FTR to win the tag titles, and most did as well, thinking the journey was for them to defend them against Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in Toronto, potentially as the main event. Unless they win them in Philly? I think this match can be placed say, oh, uppercard but not main event in Toronto. I still think FTR is the best tag team in the company right now and perfect as heels, but I’m glad they didn’t win.
Brodido: Every once in a while AEW creates a great mish mash tag team. The first great tag title run was Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page. Then we had Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee. Now we got Bandido and Brody King. I don’t know if they will stay in that upper echelon of the great mish mash teams but they are well on their way. Definitely over, and the best use of both men on the main roster. Give them until at least Full Gear to establish themselves as a top tag team please.
Daniel Garcia: Garcia not turning heel after the Nigel match was a surprise. I really hope they don’t do it on a random episode of Collision and expect us to still treat Danny as a guy. It’s due time for him to turn heel and be a midcard threat.
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage: There’s a place inside me that’s happy this happened and a place inside me that understands people sick and tired of these old guys getting all the spotlight, time, and patience for their programs. Once they get their moment in Toronto and maybe a few dream matches like the Young Bucks down? I’m not really interested in anything other than a good farewell moment.
Killshot: Great to see the former Luchasaurus looking good in the ring. It already looks like AEW figured out that him coming back as a heel was a bad idea and has Kip Sabian and Mama Wayne blaming him for the loss. Give me Luchasaurus back, and find his “Boy” to reform them. You want to get that tag division cooking? Bring back Jurassic Express.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman: After losing to Hangman, what does MJF do next? Well he has a program to finish with Mark Briscoe and a program to finish with Místico in Mexico. Once those are done? Then you can go back to him cashing in that shot, no longer an Instashot, against Hangman Adam Page. Let’s say, oh, Full Gear in New Jersey?
Hechicero: I’ve noticed Don Callis doing those Hechicero introductions. Is AEW planning to heat up Hechicero, maybe for a title match against Hangman? It’s honestly what I wanted for Forbidden Door.
Paragon: Roddy still not wanting to be friends with everyone like Kyle O’Reilly does is a fun little knot in their relationship, but where are we going with this? Are we going to split them up again? I think that’s a bad idea. The best idea is to get them on the same page and have them face the best heel teams.
Gates of Agony: There’s a chance Ricochet moves up for a title shot against Hangman but I’d much prefer Ricochet and Gates to face and beat The Opps for the Trios Championship.
Mina Shirakawa: Make her the next ROH Women’s World Champion.
Road to All Out Toronto
All Elite Wrestling will be doing a residency in the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the next six shows. It will be similar to the Chicago residency they did right after All In Texas. I just have to say that in 2026? AEW can’t be doing this. You can’t be going from huge crowds at your pay per view to a rinky dink residency for three straight weeks of television. Maybe you can get away with doing it for Collision, but Dynamite as well? It’s a bad look.
At least the final Dynamite before All Out will be in London, Ontario, which should have over 3,000 fans cheering for the go home to All Out Toronto. But those residencies? Do those in the dog days between pay per views, not right after a major show.
The big question right now is if AEW goes right back to the MJF well after he got his shot back (which now has to be cashed in at least a week before the match) or if AEW tries to build up a different heel. The lights out steel cage match re-established Jon Moxley as the top heel, even if they’ve gone one too many times to that well.
RUSH clearly wants the next big title defence against Hangman and I love RUSH so I wouldn’t be against that, even if he hasn’t been built up well enough to be the top contender. I don’t think it would be hard to get him there, but after RUSH it’s hard to think of good contenders.
There are people who want to see Chris Jericho before he leaves giving Hangman his one last match so he can finally put Hangman over and close the chapter from 2019. I love the idea, but I worry about the Toronto crowd being too reverent to Jericho against Hangman. It’s why I don’t want Hangman to face Kenny Omega at any point for the AEW Men’s World Championship. Yeah, it would mean a lot, but any time Page kicks Kenny in his intestine missing ribs it’s going to make your top babyface look like a murderer of a beloved icon. Not a good look!
If you don’t run Jericho and you don’t run MJF or RUSH, I don’t know who you run. Maybe that’s when you go with a multi-wrestler match to get RUSH and Jon Moxley in it with one more babyface (Darby?) and do a four way in Toronto.
Then we move on to the women. Timeless Toni Storm has now beaten the TBS Champion and the ROH Women’s World Champion. Where do you go from here? I think the goal is Kris Statlander, who keeps teasing a union with the Death Riders. Allowing Kris to be the Jon Moxley of the Women’s Division and take over them would be a good way to breathe new life into the Death Riders. You just can’t put Marina Shafir in that position. But Kris? She can beat Toni and be the top heel of the division.
I feel like we all know we’re going to see Adam Copeland and Christian Cage versus FTR and it doesn’t need the tag team titles. Brodido can face everyone from the Young Bucks to Don Callis Family to Gates of Agony. Lots of options there. Just no Hurt Syndicate. We done.
Hoping for a better build up to All Out than we got to Forbidden Door. I have no doubt the All Out card will be great, but I want to be as hyped for it as I possibly can. Especially since I’ll be there. Forbidden Door’s road to might not have been as good as I had hoped, but the show itself set up AEW pretty well for the next weeks going forward.
