[6.0] "A solid show that didn't have any surprising factor and only led with quality matches but unfortunately for me none of the match exceeded my expectations. They were good but not good enough. Plus even before the ppv, there were few changes made for the event due to injuries and such."
[10.0] "The show had so much potential to live up to with just how big of a crossover it was, and so many key wrestlers getting injured both before and during show, but they knocked way beyond out of the park. Toni Vs Rosa was just solid, but all the tag team action, both four ways the IWGP World Heavyweight Title and inaugural AEW All Atlantic/International Champion, and Tanahashi Vs Mox were all fantastic, the debuting Claudio Vs ZSJ was incredible, Ospreay Vs Cassidy was really phenomenal and the Chicago crowd was molten red hot for everything. Overall AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door (2022) is am absolutely phenomenal show, and the perfect crossover between two of the biggest companies in wrestling thanks to its insane matchups and in ring product."
[10.0] "Going into Forbidden Door 2022, the first big crossover event between AEW and NJPW, there was a feeling this event was cursed. CM Punk, the AEW World Champion, announced he needed neck surgery and had to vacant the title. Bryan Danielson, who was set up to have a dream match with the other best technical wrestler in the world Zack Sabre Jr, he had to drop out for an injury. Tomohiro Ishii, a huge fan favorite of savvy Japanese pro wrestling fans, was not cleared to wrestle. The builds for the matches were appropriately scattered and changed week to week. And even the actual event itself wasn't free of injury, and Dax Hardwood of FTR hurts himself on an elbow drop early in his match, and Adam Cole suffered a concussion near the end of a world title fourway. Despite everything going against it, Forbidden Door 2022 absolutely whipped ass, with an almost non stop streak of banger matches one after another. The dream of seeing guys like Tanahashi, Suzuki, Okada, Takagi, Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr mixing it up with AEW's roster of talent came true in front of a hot Chicago crowd of 16, 000 fans. My two favorite matches were Ospreay/Orange Cassidy, with the arrogant super talented heel not impressed by and constantly surprised by OC's intelligence and ability, and Claudio's hugely impressive AEW debut against ZSJ, overcoming a range of counters and submission holds with his freakish strength and athleticism. A hell of a pro wrestling show, even by the usual high standard of AEW PPVs."
[7.0] "This was a very enjoyable show for the most part, i was excited to watch it and i would say it didnt disappoint, some banger matches here the 2 4 ways, the fun 3 way tag, the 6 man tag with the elite v dudes with attitudes. a few not so great ones the mainevent and the Women';s championship match. overall a good show"
[10.0] "One of the best PPVs of all time. The crowd really helped boost an already incredible card to an all timer! One of the best openers to an AEW PPV followed by a great tag match. The All-Atlantic title 4 way was a huge surprise with a great ending. Next came a really fun trios match with some great comedic spots. The womens match followed and also surprised as I'm not the biggest Rosa fan although it was definitely the worst match on the card. I had high expectations for Ospreay Vs OC and was not disappointed! Claudio Vs ZSJ was also fantastic with some great technical and physical wrestling from the pair. The 4 way was good with an unfortunately abrupt ending and the main event while slightly overrated was still great. All round fantastic show."
[9.0] "Easily the finest PPV AEW have put on up to this point and maybe my favourite AEW show full stop. Only one real disappointment here, Rosa and Storm are so talented and the booking let them down, also didnt enjoy the Ospreay/Cassidy match but thats more down to their styles not really being my thing in the first place. Everything else though? Pretty great. Mox/Tanahashi is an all time fav, Claudio/ZSJ is up there too, and theres a surprising amount of super fun multi man matches that actually make sense and feel like fights rather than choreographed sequences. I wish all wrestling was this good."
[7.0] "Theres one really great match on the event which claudio vs Zack sabre Jr but it seemed like most the matches, especially the last 2 looked like they were going to be a lot better than what we got, with the 4 way in particular being good but never close to great. Awesome three matches to start the show but it seemed after that the show dragged a bit"
[10.0] "The opener was amazing, everybody looked great and fantastic in-ring action. The three way tag team match wasn't very good in the first part but the action got way better in the second one and the match ended up being really good. The four way for the All-Atlantic title was a bit boring in the first half but Miro got speared through a table the action got better, especially because of a great Clark Connors perfomance. Dudes with Attitudes vs. Bullet Club was my match of the night: a funny, stupid and amazing pro wrestling match that I loved for every second it lasted. Rosa vs. Storm was satisfactory but could've been better with a proper ending and more time. Ospreay vs. Cassidy was another fantastic match with two amazing perfomances by both men and an incredible crescendo towards the end. Sabre Jr. vs. Castagnoli and the four way match for Iwgp World title were very solid matches, especially Claudio vs. ZSJ. Moxley vs. Tanahashi was a great main event, nothing incredible but a really, really good match. Overall: an incredible show, all the maches were fire and this is one of the best shows in the last years"
[9.0] "An historic event between the two promotions, that exceeded expectations in spite of injuries on both sides depriving us of some dream matches. Ospreay vs Cassidy was easily the MOTN on a card that consistenly delivered."
[10.0] "I thought it was a fantastic show with some great matches the best being the aew world title match, claudio vs zack was great will osprey vs orange cassidy was a great match and overall almost every match was really good there was only a couple that wasn't the greatest the only thing this show suffered from was having a bunch of people injured."
[7.0] "An enjoyable show but not one I see the show of the year reception for and Id have it below Revolution for AEWs best PPV of 2022. Mostly entertaining matches and the show did overachieve considering all of the issues heading into it but for a show to be called show of the year to me, I personally see more emotional stakes and a higher ceiling for matches that most of the matches on this show did not quite reach. Thats not to say the show was bad as it was consistent and enjoyable throughout but I didnt feel that anything necessarily stood out more beyond the rest aside from Orange/Will and the Shingo tag. Moxley also looked great against Tanahashi. While Forbidden Door 2023 had some lower lows, I also felt it had higher highs and was a more strongly paced show. This one was still entertaining though and did well considering all of the circumstances that the show was dealt in the build up."
"Had never seen Shota Umino work before, but my god, Shooter has a very bright future in NJPW. Four-way for the All-Atlantic was exactly what it needed to be and shout out to Clark Conners for stepping in for an injury, but he had a great showing. Before the finish, the IGWP Heavyweight four-way was on the path of being a match of the year contender. All four guys were astounding, and kudos to White for stepping in and keeping Cole safe. Claudio and ZSJ had a barn burner that was perfect for Claudios debut. Main event was given a hard task to follow the ending before it, but tana and mox did a great job making the match intriguing. But easily the best match on the card was OC vs Ospreay. They stole the show and have Chicago one of the best matches of the year. Top to bottom, what a phenomenal show."
[10.0] "This is without a doubt my favorite event from 2022. A lot of hype behind the first ppv between both promotions and for the fans of NJPW and AEW it didnt dissapoint in any way. The really crazy part is that this ppv feel like it was cursed or something because it was plagued with injuries from really important wrestlers from both companies. Its really wild that the event went on to be as succesful with so many big players out of action. The big match of Punk vs Tanahashi was teased and it couldnt be delivered because of Punk injury, but the four way that we got was a dream match in every way possible, the sad part is that Cole got injured and to this day he hasnt come back. But outside of the injuries that happened before the event and what happened with Cole, this event was really special for multiple reasons. With a sold out Arena like United Center I think all AEW and NJPW fans can hope is that this year event is just as special as this one."
[7.0] "LOTS of fun, especially considering the injury and illness woes, as well as the lackluster Dominon and Double or Nothing that both companies were coming in from. [Bishamon vs Factory] - 3.25 stars. [Archer vs Comoroto] - 2.5 stars. [Swerve in Our Glory vs SZKGN] - 3.25 stars. [Caster/Gunns vs Young Lions] - 2.5 stars (Worst of the Night). [Kingston/Umino/Yuta vs JAS/Suzuki] - 4 stars. [FTR vs Khan on the Cobb vs Roppongi Vice] - 3 stars. [Black vs PAC vs Miro vs Clark] - 3.5 stars. [BC vs Darby/Shingo/Sting] - 3 stars. [Thunder Rosa vs Toni Storm] - 2.5 stars. [Ospready vs Cassidy] - 4.5 stars (Match of the Night). [Claudio vs ZSJ] - 3.75 stars. [White/Okada/Cole/Page] - 3 stars. [Tanahashi vs Moxley] - 3.5 stars. Average match rating: 3.25 of 5 stars (or 6.5 of 10). Rounded to 7 for Cagematch."
[4.0] "Perhaps the most disappointing event of the year that is also the most overrated event of the year. The build up to this "dream event" was cursed by a slew of significant injuries and pretty boring booking decisions that didn't really help highlight the NJPW side almost at all with most NJPW talents showing very late to the build up and doing almost nothing. Also a lot of the matches were thrown together and/or were multi-man confusing messes. Now everyone rating this event highly is saying that the matches were great. If you are like me (you don't care for fast and spot-filled trainwrecks), there were no great matches to be seen. The closest thing to one was Zack Sabre Jr's match and not because of him. There were also some in-between matches stuff that ranged from the pretty cool post Ospreay-Cassidy cameo from a NJPW great to the alright Juice Robinson and Jay White promo all the way to the abominable Jericho fireball wizard nonsense. After the main event there was an angle to the Blood & Guts FREE TV show that was pretty much just a shitty brawl with the new BCC member saving the day which was cool but only mildly due to the length of the event completely taking the fans' energy and them already having seen said debut earlier on. I also noticed that there were no NJPW referees (not a positive or negative just an observation). Perhaps I am in the minority here but I was deeply disappointed by this event especially because I was looking forward to it."
[7.0] "A satisfying event, truly, but I can't go overboard and say it was ten out of ten great. The stakes just weren't there with most of these matches considering the lacklustre build. Again, the talent pulled their weight, I just don't think the stories of the matches were particularly compelling."
[10.0] "Just great wrestling from start to finish. Excellent stuff. Opening match probably my favourite with the Umino/Jericho story sprinkled with Eddie Kingston wanting to kill everyone on site. Lovely stuff. Top show."
[7.0] "Almost no match had a storyline behind it but it ended up being a pretty good show. It even was slightly shorter than your typical AEW PPV! Still pretty damn long though."
[9.0] "I think this PPV has a lot of great matches but I didn't find any classics one or cherry on top. If I break down every match, the score of each match would be around 7-8 points good but nothing special. Overall I very much appreciate every dollar I paid for this event."
[6.0] "Honestly, thought this was a very overrated show. Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy was fantastic, but most of the card suffered from being paint by numbers predictable without enough storyline to the matches to overcome that obstacle. I think I had it like 9th of the 13 AEW PPVs I've seen."
[8.0] "I had three matches at four stars or just above so can? t complain at all. Not quite as high as others are on it as a few too many multi man matches for my tastes but still a high end ppv."
"A really good ppv put up by Tony Khan & Team. Ospreay v Cassidy was the best match of the night in my opinion with Claudio v Zack a close second, the PPV looked different than the usual stuff AEW puts out which was a little refreshing, the finishes of the matches were unexpected and good too."
[10.0] "Really awesome show. Even the low moments weren't bad. Loved getting to see all the NJPW guys get to hear crowds erupt for them. Orange Cassidy and Ospreay was the match of the night. 10 points for Shibata."
[10.0] "Just a great show all around. Even with the unfortunate circumstances leading up to the show, both companies ended up overdelivering in the matches. The pacing of the show was nice and each match felt like its own special match and felt different from the rest which made watching this 5 hour show easy."
"the first aew ppv i've watched start to finish. 7/10. great only in comparison to wwe's current badness. half of the wrestlers on the card came from njpw and frankly they came off way better than aew's roster; way more charisma, athleticism, psychology and stylish presentation. standout wrestlers, imo: will ospreay, jeff cobb, jay white & sting of all people. the best matches were claudio vs zsj, dudes w/ attitudes vs bullet club & the 4 way for the njpw title. the worst matches were the women's match and a supremely underwhelming main event from jon moxley and tanahashi."
[10.0] "AEW and NJPW managed to make the best ppv so far this year even with the injuries, politics, last minute changes in the card and all those dream matches we weren't able to see this time. All matches were great, the pacing was perfect. Claudio debut was an amazing moment, Katsuyori Shibata showing up almost made me cry. The crowd was hot throughout the 4+ hours of this event. It's almost like something special happens everytime AEW is in the United Center. I'm looking forward to see more cross promotion stuff from this two companies since this event was amazing."
[7.0] "It's curious how this event is rated an average of 9 but there is only 1 match with a 9 rating. With that off my chest, this event was very strong, the floor was very high and we had an amazing match put on by OC and WO to highlight it. I was hoping for a lot more from the fatal 4 way match and out of Okada, it sucked, and the Moxley match was predictable and like most Moxley matches: he hasn't found a razor he doesn't like, and there was no suspense: we knew Moxley was going to win. The FTR match was strong but ruined: Dax was PINNED and the ref counted 3 but they acted like it didn't happen. THAT CAN'T HAPPEN and it killed the legitimacy of the match and win. They should not have left champions given the pin, it looked absolutely ridiculous. Aside from the Ospreay match, the highlight was the debut of Claudio (Cesaro), and as always, he put on a strong showing. I can't rate this event a 9 given there was only one elite match, and this card, while very enjoyable and with some surprises, is being overrated. It was NOT better than Revolution, nor was it better than Wrestlemania night 1, which are the best 2 American PPVs of the year so far."
[8.0] "Considering all the bad luck leading up to this show... this turned out pretty good. Not sure if there really should have been this many multi-man matches on the card, especially four-in-a-row, but they were at least all different. Tag titles match was a little weak with the injury angle, only for Dax to later come out completely fine. All-Atlantic title match was amazing, especially the finishing sequence. Dudes/Bullet Club match was pretty bad, tons of comedy and ridiculous moves, plus Sting seemingly forgot one of his spots with El Phantasmo and just left the ring with Phantasmo having to improvise. Women's match was solid but didn't have me all that invested. US Title match was better than I expected. IWGP World Heavyweight title match was excellent until the awkward finish because of Cole's injury. AEW Title match definitely wasn't as good as some matches that came before it. Moxley's bladejob was dumb & unnecessary. I think this was a very good show, but not the best show ever by far."
[9.0] "So good. So very, very, very good. Like many, came into this with no working knowledge of NJPW. Monday morning, signed up for NJPW World streaming and dove in whole hog. Without a doubt, the best wrestling card I've ever seen. Not a duff match the whole night. It was a revelation."
[10.0] "The best wrestling show ive ever been to and the first AEW show ive been to. Even the pre show was awesome. Best Moments of the night: Eddie Kingston in the ring with Minoru Suzuki, Pac wins a championship, Stings entrance, Orange Cassidys kick outs, Claudio debut, that fan who punched a security guard during the main event, and of course Jon Moxley winning the interim AEW championship."
[7.0] "It was a great show but 9.27, come on guys this show was mostly AEW guys beating on NJPW wrestlers. There was probably only 2 or 3 really good matches and the rest there good or average. Overall it was a great show but it isn't 9.27 good but i guess that's what you get from you marks that rate Wardlow getting gassed hitting powerbomb after powerbomb a 10"
[9.0] "Despite the mexican politics, AEW and NJPW managed to put on quite a superb event. That was STACKED. At least, the less shinest bouts were pretty solids and had tons of good moments. The All-Atlantic's first crowning was a show-stealer as well as Castagnoli vs. ZSJ. Moxley vs. Tanahashi was quite something, a true passioning letter to wrestling."
[10.0] "Is it bad too say that this is one of my favourite wrestling shows ever? Maybe. But God damn was this a fire event. The build was mediocre, but the event itself ended up being an absolute masterpiece, with the womens match being the only disappointment. Also so very happy to see the return of Claudio. MOTY: Will Ospreay VS Orange Cassidy"
[10.0] "Not as good as Revolution but better than Double or Nothing, this was a really fun show with just a couple things that taint it slightly, those being the end to the IWGP World title match and the post-match of Moxley-Tanahashi with the big brawl at the end, the latter of which was indicative of a benign but recognizable issue that this was an AEW show with some NJPW guys and not a true equal joint show. It's hard to knock it for build because how well can you really build an inter-promotional show in a month? They also did really well with overall match quality and big, fun moments despite all of the injuries leading up to the show. Overall, every single match was good to great, Claudio's debut ruled, Shooter became a star, Sting and Shingo fistbumped, Shibata saved Cassidy, and I had a blast. This was not perfect, but considering the ominous cloud hanging over the show, it well exceeded expectations and maybe with a week's hindsight, I'll place less importance on the tiny wrinkles that bug me right now and give this the full 10. Edit: full 10 it is. Very few shows ever hit this level of consistently high match quality."
[8.0] "Great PPV. I'm not a NJPW guy and don't know much about the company or it wrestlers, of course I know legends like Okada, Ospreay and Tanahashi but I enjoy probably all the matches in the PPV. These matches were spetacular, TOP 3 PPV's I'd ever see in my 18 brazilian years. Love it. Match of the PPV: Orange Cassidy vs Will Ospreay."
[10.0] "Without knowing NJPW, this show was excellent. All the matches were very good. All presentation for NJPW talent was really good for someone who doesn't know NJPW. In my opinion, the match of the show is clearly the match between Will Ospreay and Orange Cassidy. This is one of the best PPV's I've seen in my life."
[7.0] "It was good, even very good. There's no patch that's worse than "Nice", there's a big rhythm. The three matches I'll remember are the opener, Bullet Club vs Dudes with Attitude and Ospreay vs Orange Cassidy. However, this is not an AEW × NJPW show. It's clearly an AEW show, with some NJPW wrestlers. And I think that's not a good thing, since the name of the show isn't really respected."
[7.0] "The best, most consistent show of the year, even with all the surrounding injuries. 6-man opener was really fun. Everyone impressed in their unique roles. Kingston, Shota, and Yuta showed great fire, while Suzuki and Sammy were good too, but Jericho was just 'there'. ***1/2. The Double Tag Titles 3-way was pretty good. Cool story of Dax valiantly returning after his shoulder injury. His arm-selling was definitely inconsistent, but he showed good fire. Lots of fun exchanges and near falls. ***1/4 - ***1/2. The All-Atlantic Title 4-way was good. Fun story of the unknown Connors winning the crowd over as the fiery underdog out of his depth. Pac, Black, and Miro all looked good with their signature stuff. Very fun final 1/3rd with the big trades and near falls. ***1/4 - ***1/2. Darby, Shingo & Sting vs ELP & The Bucks was good. Bucks' usual spots were okay. Sting's dominance, while charming, was definitely quite absurd. Shingo's intense attacks were great. ELP's obnoxious heel work and aerial attacks were wonderful. Darby's babyface-selling and speedy/agile attacks were really fun. ***1/4 - ***1/2. Rosa vs Toni wasn't too bad but definitely rather boring. Rosa's offence was initially quite flimsy and poorly timed, though it admittedly got better. Toni's attacks all looked better, but not by much, since even she was a bit clumsy. Lots of very uninspired and effortless exchanges. Awful decision for Rosa to retain. **1/2. Ospreay vs Cassidy was obviously great. Ospreay's arrogant heel work was tremendously entertaining, and of course his signature offence was world-class. Cassidy worked well alongside him, with his gimmick spots fitting in well and his serious offence matching Ospreay's really well. Typical exciting exchanges and spots all throughout. ***3/4 - ****. Sabre vs Claudio was great and my MOTN. Claudio was the only one who could fit this mystery role, and he gave a great debut performance. Sabre's technical work was awesome, especially with his many slick counters. Claudio had great impact in all his attacks, and his inconsistent arm-selling was his one negative. Their styles mixed together extremely well, making for many exciting exchanges and creative spots. ***3/4 - ****. Shibata's surprise appearance was incredibly hype, and I'm incredibly excited if he faces OSPREAY of all people. The IWGP World Title 4-way was good, but disappointing. Multi-man matches are inherently limited, which unfortunately meant all 4 were pretty restrained (except Cole, who still did his usual mediocre spam). Some good exchanges and spots, plus some decent stories of broken alliances, but nothing especially creative or exciting. Very flat and confusing finish, too. ***1/4 - ***1/2. Moxley vs Tanahashi had a bit of a styles clash, but Moxley's impactful aggression and Tanahashi's godly selling insured this was still really good, as those two factors bounced off each other really well. ***1/2. Not an "all-time" show but still a really good one."
"Not a bad show but far too long. I understand wanting to get guys on the card but 5 hours is far too much. Also, many matches just seemed thrown together. I get that many of the NJPW guys aren? t going to appear regularly, but it just was bland from my perspective. Cassidy far exceeded my expectations."
[9.0] "Insane Pro-Wrestling event from start to finish. AEW and NJPW granted my wish as a wrestling fan, basically throwing some of the greatest athletes from NA and Japan against each other. The event building was pretty unlucky with all the injuries and some matches had no construction at all but the overall was pretty good. The IWGP title match was good with a pretty unlucky ending but i'm glad White retained. Also, the crowd was incredible, the pop for Okada and even for Shibata, i was not excpecting that at all. When Mox had Tanahashi almost tapping, the crowd was literally chanting for Tana. As a pro-wrestling fun, it was a great, great, great experience! I also need to point out how insanely good Will Ospreay has become: he delivered another screamer (almost perfect), making O.C looking good too despite the lose. He wrestled at Dynamite, at Rampage, at GCW and Warrior event and then at Forbidden Door. He delivered a good-to-great match (the one with Nick Wayne is a gem too) every single time and was even injured few days before the NA tour. He's only 29 and he's already an all-time great."
[7.0] "I'm not far from agreeing about matches ratings, it was a great night in-ring wise, glad that AEW guys managed to do great performances against NJPW guys they barely know and that makes me very optimistic for future Forbidden Door events. However, I don't think this show is a show that deserves more than the sum of its matches, build was pretty poor, results were very predictable, having 3 tag matches early in the show and not at all after the mid point feels like poor balancing, using Okada in a 4-way that wasn't that great feels like a huge mistake, women's match was mediocre, and I feel like that post main event angle lowered the show's value by making it obivous they cared more about building Blood and Guts."
[9.0] "An excellent show. Opener and Ospreay vs. Cassidy were the best matches. Loved seeing Claudio get some spotlight. Hopefully he will actually be used well by his new employer unlike the last place he worked. Would have liked to see Okada in a singles match instead of a four-way, which are almost always kind of lame. Interesting that Jay White, the champion in the match, seemed to be the least over guy of all four participants. I hope that the two companies will be able to put together another one of these shows in the future, with guys like Danielson, Naito, Punk and Omega being involved next time, and Okada doing a singles match instead of a multi-man."
[9.0] "In my opinion, none of the matches on this card stuck out as matches of the year. However, all of these matches were atleast good if not great making the average for this show really high. Every match on this show was entertaining and was worthy of it's spot on the card. It showed that both companies will be working together for a while since different wrestlers have new faction alliances or hold titles for the other company which is really exciting. This is not quite a perfect show, but it is in my opinion the best show of the year to date."
[10.0] "Well, I think the story and the main event of 2022 went super well. Firstly, there was excellent wrestling, all the matches were above average and every fighter gave his all for the fans and history. FTR have overcome a new barrier and now they are IWGP team champions - nice. PAC won for himself the first title in AEW, finally it happened and I'm sure he won't give up this title just like that. Ospreay/Cassidy is the main match of the evening and a candidate for a 5-star rating. Katsuyori Shibata appeared on the show, this is a super surprise and a big shock moment for all the fans, I wonder if he will return to the ring? Claudio/ZSJ as promised by the American Dragon, we were given the best technical match that can only be made for the general public, now the Swiss Cyborg will conquer AEW. I wish Adam Cole a speedy recovery, it's a pity that his injury so spoiled the overall impression of such a cool match for the world title. Jon Moxley is a 2-time AEW world champion and I am wildly glad, he deserved it and now he looks nice. Summing up all the emotions, I will say that I am wildly glad that two big companies are now friends and I reacted like a child to every match, it is a hurricane of different emotions, from joy to tears of happiness, I am extremely shocked by such an amazing show, many thanks to everyone who had a hand in this show, this is a REAL Story about wrestling! You're on a horse!"
[8.0] "Overall this was definitely a great show and a huge success for the first AEW/NJPW crossover event. The run of matches from the All-Atlantic four-way to the Claudio/ZSJ match was absolutely phenomenal, unfortunately though, the show was let down by the co-main event. The tag title match wasn't a great match either, but for an early in the card spot, it's fine to build from, but the final two matches, the two world title matches, should be great and they just weren't and that puts a dent on the show. Still, best show of the year by my reckoning. As well as the excellent middle portion of matches, there was also a star making performance from Shota Umino in the entertaining opener, that he paid for that later in the show when he was on the end of some wizardry from Jericho, and of course, there was a moment for the ages when Shibata's music hit and he made an appearance. The crowd were also absolutely electric from the first second to the last, providing a great atmosphere even for the matches I didn't think were that good."
[9.0] "This was lacking that truly classic match and I did feel that the final three matches were all a little underwhelming for various reasons, but put together the average match quality, the novelty of cross-promotion (and fanservice), good card pacing, and one of the hottest crowds in a while, and you have a very entertaining show. They lost Hiromu, Ishii, Punk, and Danielson, so both companies can step back and say "If you thought that was good, wait until next time when we're at our best." Some missed opportunities in this one for me in the final half of the show. Claudio was obviously supposed to debut as a run-in during that final brawl. Might have been best to scrap the brawl and just have Moxley and Tanahashi shake hands since Claudio's surprise card had already been dealt. The IWGP match was also brought down with that injury ending, but all in all this'll probably be the show of the year unless maybe they can get the crowds back without restrictions for the G1. I'd say my match ratings would mostly be a bit below the averages here, but judging this PPV as a whole it was a good show."
[9.0] "Amazing PPV and a dream for true wrestling fans. All matches were between good to amazing and the crowd was probably the hottest I have ever heard. Hell; even guys like Umino and Clark Connors were well supported! Even with all the injuries this show must have amongst the biggest star power of any show in the history of the business."
[10.0] "In my eyes, it was by far the best ppv in AEW since its debut, with high quality matches and very good technical production. One can simply regret that there was no truly exceptional match, except perhaps Ospreay vs. Cassidy, but the average level of wrestling was excellent. Even the end of the match for the IWGP belt didn't disappoint me, especially for a semi-main event (I wouldn't have said the same thing if it had been the last match): there, it's a frustrating outcome, but perfect to advance the storyline around Jay White. In short, a show to recommend!"
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