Tossing Salt Presents:
AEW Forbidden Door
Thoughts & Predictions
June 24, 2023
DougMaynard.com

Coming up tomorrow night, live from Toronto, is AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling and the Forbidden Door II event. And you know what that means, right? It’s prediction time. Let’s do this.

Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada.

There’s a history here and the build has been great, over ten years in the making. This most likely will be the match of the night. And as for who wins, I’m thinking Okada should get the win here, possibly setting up for a rematch at Wembley or in Japan somewhere down the road. I can’t see New Japan sending over one of their top guys to lose.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay.

These two have great chemistry and their match in Tokyo was probably one of the best in Omega’s career. Omega won at that Wrestle Kingdom event so now it’s time for Ospreay to tie things up and set up a rematch down the road, maybe in London? I’d look for Don Callis to get involved in some way to further the story between him and Omega and when that final bell rings, it’ll be Ospreay who’s getting his arm raised and wearing that IWGP United States Championship.

Winner and NEW IWGP United States Champion: Will Ospreay

AEW Champion MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.

MJF didn’t want this match, but he got it anyhow so I expect he’ll stall, delay, run away, and try everything to just avoid Tanahashi at first until Tanahashi gets fed up and just beats the holy hell out of MJF for a while. And then MJF gets sneaky and cheats and steals a win to retain his belt.

Winner and STILL AEW Champion: MJF

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry.

Jungle Boy is just here to have a good match and look strong before doing the job. Does anyone think that Jungle Boy has a hope of becoming the new IWGP World Champion? Really? SANADA wins.

Winner and STILL IWGP Champion: SANADA

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia.

Cassidy has been the International Champion for a while now and has built up a strong record as champion with more title matches and defenses in the past six months than Roman Reigns has done in three years, but it’s time for that Orange to be crushed. Let’s go with a new Champion and as for who, my gut says Daniel Garcia. So there you go.

Winner and NEW AEW International Champion: Daniel Garcia

Adam Cole versus Tom Lawlor

I almost forgot this one. Lawlor is a damn good wrestler and former UFC fighter that can go head-to-head with anyone and have a competitive match. And Adam Cole? Well, he’s Adam Cole, bay-bay! It should be a good match, but the final outcome really isn’t in any doubt.

Winner: Adam Cole

AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm vs. NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale – NJPW title not on the line.

Storm hasn’t been a champion for very long so I can’t see a title switch happening just yet. It’s too soon. But Nightingale is also a champion and I can’t see New Japan allowing their champion to take a loss. So that means it’s either a DQ finish or a no-contest, much like it always was back in the day when Race fought Backlund or Superstar Graham. It won’t go a draw because I don’t think either Toni or Willow are good enough to work a long match and besides, with all of the other matches on this card, time restrictions would prevent anything more than ten or fifteen minutes, tops. Look for the interference of some sort by Saraya or Ruby to cause a DQ.

Winner by DQ: Willow Nightingale. Storm retains her AEW Women’s Championship.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima.

There is no way in hell that Punk is losing his first singles match since returning to AEW after his long hiatus. I expect this will be a good match and both men will go to the limit, but the finish is in little doubt.

Winner: CM Punk

The Blackpool Combat Club & Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. The Elite & Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii.

I’m just wondering if The Young Bucks will be there for this match since CM Punk is in the building and he might hurt their feelings with his presence in the same venue. I’m sure they’ll have private security to protect them from Punk and Larry the Dog. I can’t wait to hear what they cry to Uncle Dave and hear Cornette’s comments later in the week. As for this match, expect a lot of blood. Moxley is there so how can it be otherwise? And since the BCC won their last encounter, look for The Elite and friends to win this one. I can’t see them being professional and doing the job twice in a row. They might cry if they had to do that.

Winners: The Elite. Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii

Sting & Darby Allin & mystery partner vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki.

The biggest question here is who will be Sting & Darby’s mystery partner. I know I implied Goldberg in an earlier edition of the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A, but that doesn’t make sense since he’s not a part of New Japan and this whole event is about AEW and New Japan highlighting their biggest and best (and The Elite). From what I’ve seen, the most obvious choice is Tetsuya Naito, so we’ll just go with that. And as for who wins, they’re building towards Sting versus Jericho in London, plus a split between Sammy & Jericho, so I’ll go with Team Sting winning and Sammy taking the fall. Makes sense to me.

Winners: Sting, Darby Allin & the mystery partner (Naito).

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament: Athena vs. Billie Starkz.

Athena is the current ROH Women’s Champion and she’s not losing here. Starkz is just there to give Athena a match and then take the loss.

Winner: Athena

On AEW Collision tonight, three more matches were added to the AEW/New Japan Forbidden Door PPV for the pre-show Zero Hour Broadcast. And so let’s tackle these and add them to the prediction column.

United Empire’s TJP & Kyle Fletcher & Jeff Cobb vs. LIJ’s Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi & BUSHI.

For this one, I pretty much have not a clue who any of the participants are, but I do know Jeff Cobb. I also know of Takahashi so that’s at least two out of the six. Who wins? Let’s go for the KIJ team.

Winners: Hiromu Takahashim Shingo Takagi & BUSHI.

Mogul Embassy vs. Trent Beretta & El Desperado & Rocky Romero.

The Nogul Embassy was supposed to be the next big thing in AEW when they debuted, but their presence has been lacking ever since, with the exception of some issues with The Hardy Boyz. The last time I remember seeing them do anything, they lose. So here, they’ll win becasue that’s how it works.

Winners: The Mogul Embassy

Stu Grayson vs. ELP aka El Phantasmo.

I like Stu Grayson so I’mpulling for him here.

Winner: Stu Grayson

And there you go, with my predictions for AEW Forbidden Door. So what do you think? Am I right? Am I wrong? Let me know what you think, along with any questions, thoughts, or comments you may have. My thanks for reading. And with that, let’s wrap things up. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for the green mist and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!