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REOPENING THE FORBIDDEN DOOR: THOUGHTS FROM ATTENDING THE SHOW

AEW and NJPW presented its second installment of Forbidden Door in Toronto, Ontario, Canada last week. Having been to a number of AEW events in the past, I could not pass up the opportunity to take the 90 minute drive from outside of Buffalo to attend the event in person.

The trip was more than worth crossing the border and taking the time to make the trip. Most of the crowd that attends an event like this is quite different than a typical wrestling crowd. I am fully aware that this was not catered to the typical or casual wrestling fan, but was completely intended for a much more hardcore fan and one that watches shows online and subscribes to various services such as NJPW World.

Much of the crowd clearly knew all the stars that appeared, whether it was a name that all would know (i.e. Bryan Danielson), a name many would know (Kazuchika Okada) or a name that is not as well known (Ishii). The crowd was, as all AEW shows I have attended, very active and vocal. Most of this was likely clear on the broadcast, but Punk was very mixed and his subtle heel mannerisms worked the crowd perfectly. I thought that person who got the loudest face reaction, outside of Danielson, was Eddie Kingston. Nobody dislikes him and his character (which is really not much acting) is one of the best active today.

Another thing that I though helped with the crowd was the order of matches. It might sound like a silly thing, but they were spaced out to give the crowd a chance to relax so to speak after a hot match. In hindsight, Omega-Ospreay should have been last with how hot it was and how the Danielson-Okada match had to change in the last ten minutes due to the injury, but that is tricky to predict.

A friend of mine was a few rows in front of me and while he was not totally familiar with Ospreay he complimented the effort of both men in the match – and for me having attended a number of different events from AEW, WWE, ECW, WCW and ROW, this was the highlight as well and was the best match I have seen in person.

One thing that I have noticed with events like this – and I also see it at concerts – is that more merchandise tables would be great. I would have bought something but the lines were crazy.

Part of me regrets not making it back up to Hamilton for Wednesday and Thursday – especially with the NJPW crew still being around, but that would have made for a long week.

Overall I can’t say anything but I was a satisfied customer and I will attend the next AEW show that is in the Buffalo area.

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