Swerve Strickland and the Real Winners and Losers from AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door III

This year’s Forbidden Door was wide open as NJPW, AEW, CMLL and STARDOM were all represented on the card to make this the most international event in AEW history.

Between the pre-show and main card, we had a staggering 15 matches to watch on Sunday. Six title were defended across five bouts, with one being a Winner-Takes-All match for the TBS and NJPW Strong Women’s Championships.

In addition to all of the action, we got the return of someone whose absence has been felt in the women’s division for several months.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers from Sunday night’s Forbidden Door PPV.

One of the most random additions to the Forbidden Door card ended up being the match that kicked off the whole show. Kyle Fletcher of The Don Callis Family took on Serpentico in a match that can only be described as a squash.

The former ROH TV champion was angry after dropping his title to Atlantis Jr., so he took out his frustrations on Snakeman in the shortest match of the night.

Serpentico has been a regular fixture in ROH but only appears on AEW TV sparingly, so as soon as he was announced as Fletcher’s opponent, we all knew how this would play out.

It may not be ideal, but companies need talents whose job it is to put other people over. Serpentico fills that role well and always does a good job selling for her opponents, so he made Fletcher look dominant.

We saw a lot of people get big reactions from the crowd on Sunday, but few people had as much love from the fans as MJF.

The Long Island native not only played to his local New York fans, but he integrated the Islander’s logo into his gear to get a little extra hometown support.

He opened the main card against Hechicero in a solid match with a predictable ending. Nobody expected masked man to win, but the journey from bell to bell is what matters.

These two told a fun story between the ropes that included MJF selling a potential arm injury, some great technical wrestling, and a lot of crowd participation.

The former world champion secured the win with a brainbuster and celebrated in front of a happy NY crowd.

Bryan Danielson and Shingo Takagi wrestled a first-round match in the Owen Hart tournament at Forbidden Door, but after Takagi recently attacked Wheeler Yuta, it became more personal.

The American Dragon played with our emotions a bit by going to great lengths to sell a potential neck injury, but he still walked away with the win.

This may not have been the most important match on the card or had a title on the line, but they went out there and beat the life out of each other and delivered a memorable performance.

The Danielson farewell tour continues to add outstanding matches to his already impressive resume. Now, The American Dragon has to worry about Pac in the second round. They haven’t been in the ring together in just over 15 years, so that should be a fun encounter.

Hiroshi Tanahashi is already a legendary name in Japanese pro wrestling, but his Forbidden Door booking almost felt like an afterthought.

He wasn’t confirmed for the show until days before the PPV when he was announced as the partner of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens in their trios match against The Elite.

It felt like AEW forgot he needed to be booked for the PPV and slotted him into whatever match could afford to lose a competitor, and it just happened to be Daddy Ass who was pushed to the sidelines.

On top of that, Tana ate the pin for his team, which does make sense from a storytelling standpoint if AEW still wants the Bucks and Acclaimed to keep feuding, but it added to the feeling of Tanahashi not being a priority on this show.

He was fun to watch and played his role in the match, but this won’t go down as his most memorable appearance.

Not only did Mariah May score a win over Saraya to advance in the women’s Owen Hart bracket, but she also played a key role in the Women’s World Championship match between Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa.

The 25-year-old has already endeared herself to the AEW audience with her part in this storyline, and her strong in-ring performances have earned her a lot of respect, too.

She played this to perfection as the woman who was torn between her two favorite people in the world. Shirakawa told her she had to make a choice leading up to the PPV, but she never needed to.

Storm shook the challenger’s hand after retaining the title and they embraced in a reluctant hug before all three women kissed to a standing ovation.

Going against most people’s predictions, everyone walked away as friends and seemingly on good terms, and nobody looked more excited about it than May.

Zack Sabre Jr. came into Forbidden Door with a 0-2 record at this particular event. For someone widely regarded as the best technical wrestler of this generation, a third loss was unfathomable.

In 2022, he lost to Claudio Castagnoli. Last year, he came up short in a Fatal 4-Way that was won by Orange Cassidy. This year, ZSJ got some retribution on OC by defeating him clean with a submission hold.

They had a fantastic match that made both men look like skilled tekkers, but Sabre had Cassidy’s number. He tied him up in a hold that may not even have a name. He just kept grabbing and twisting any limb he could reach until OC was hogtied and forced to submit.

Forbidden Door delivered a couple of standout matches and this was definitely one of them. If you didn’t watch the show live, make sure to check this one out.

Mercedes Moné was one of a handful of people who put a title on the line at Forbidden Door, but she and Stephanie Vaquer were the only ones fighting in a Winner Takes All match for two championships.

Moné was defending the AEW TBS title while Vaquer put the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship on the line.

When that belt was first created in 2023, Moné was slated to win it but an unfortunate injury during her match against Willow Nightingale changed plans.

On Sunday night, The CEO was finally able to win the title that eluded her when she made Vaquer tap out to her old finisher, The Bank Statement. She left the PPV as a double champion, but Vaquer still holds two titles in CMLL, so she will be just fine.

As Moné was celebrating, Britt Baker made her return, so there is a strong possibility she face the TBS champion at All In on August 25 or two weeks later at All Out.

During the six-way Ladder match for the TBS title, Jack Perry was able to outwit his five opponents to claim to the vacant championship. Later in the show, Tetsuya Naito defeated Jon Moxley to regain the IWGP Championship he lost a Wrestle Kingdom 18.

Moné, Perry and Naito were the only people to win gold on Sunday, so in one way, they were the biggest winners of the night.

The main event of this year’s Forbidden Door was the highly anticipated world title match between Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland.

The buildup for this saw them go from being friendly with each other to being rivals willing to take each other out at the drop of a hat.

Ospreay was the first one to unleash a strike to get the action going, but the AEW champion was not about to take it lying down. They went from 0-60 right away and made sure the crowd that had already sat through over four hours of wrestling had a reason to be excited.

Expectations were high and they did not disappoint. Unfortunately, only one man could leave with the world title. After taking each other to their limits and hitting several finishers, Strickland was finally able to put Ospreay away.

He showed The Aerial Assassin respect after the match to show there were no hard feelings and ended the show on a high note.