[8.0] "A bit confused to why Kenny Omega needed to squash Tony Nese, and I don't know why they pretty much did the forbidden door match just without a stipulation, but this was yet another great dynamite. Every match got lots of time and they were all great, with Mercedes vs Hazuki being MOTN. I'll always like it when Brodido have a match, as it's impossible for them to have a bad tag match. Booking wise, I can understand why some didn't like some of the decisions here, but I thought this show was great with a lot of good wrestling on it."

[9.0] "Definitely was a pretty good card with multiple good matches. The Hazuki vs. Mercedes Mone match, definitely stole the show [9/10]. The Brodido match was pretty entertaining [8/10]. And the 12 man match was also very entertaining, with a little less focus on the wrestling, and more on the storytelling. I know that they are going to have an even better match at Forbidden Door. I also have to say how much I love whenever MJF gets on the mic, he is hilarious and is so good at popping out insults. [****1/2]"

[7.0] "The show begins with what I thought was MJF's Forbidden Door team announcement, but it suddenly becomes tonight's main event. MJF names everyone vying for his title, both enemies and potential allies. Kenny Omega, after easily defeating Tony Nese, is visited by Zack Sabre Jr. and TMDK, while Bandido faces the Death Riders in a solid match. The main event is Hazuki vs. Mercedes Moné as the Owen Hart Tournament semifinal, a match where they truly show their true colors. The Japanese wrestler constantly moves from corner to corner of the ring, and Mercedes struggles to defeat her. A match between Jon Moxley and Bandido for Forbidden Door is confirmed, and Mark Briscoe responds by announcing his allies, including Takeshita and Darby Allin. I'm not a fan of big tag team matches, but it's impossible to deny the talent among all those names, even if the match itself wasn't that impressive. What I liked most about the show was the confrontation between Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay. They've both changed a lot since they last teamed up to dethrone Jon Moxley. They do questionable things, but they maintain a minimum of respect, even though they both concluded their adventure was pointless, since Hangman Page lost the title and it's now in MJF's hands. Interestingly, it's Ospreay who wants to take this confrontation to a physical fight, but Swerve, despite being a psychopath, doesn't care and keeps saying what he thinks. I think it's the best promo Will Ospreay has ever been in."

[8.0] "Really good episode this week continuing the build to Forbidden Door. Almost everything clicked and Mercedes v Hazuki was one of the best TV matches of the year."

[8.0] "very good dynamite with two PPV quality matches in Hizuki and Mone and Brodido vs the Death Riders. also moved along the story with MJF and briscoe quite well and furthered excitement heading into forbidden door."

[8.0] "Really good show overall. I think I actually liked the big multi-man main event best, it flowed really we.. Ospreay's promo was kind of dumb, not just the weird "clean yourself up" line but also, being mad at Swerve because he didn't help when the Death Riders beat him up and then immediately making friends with... the Death Riders? Weird."

[6.0] "After a quick Omega win, there was a bit of a tepid segment between Omega and ZSJ. The tag team match felt overly long despite being a largely solid match. I do not get the appeal of putting the ROH Champion in losing situations as has been done throughout 2026 with Bandido by setting up he and Moxley. Adam and Christian's promo felt cold to me with the program with The Dogs not feeling very investing. Mercedes/Hazuki was good but I did not see it as overly strong. Will's promo felt weak to me but Strickland did his part well. Main event was a party match and one that felt like a way to give the villains group a win before Briscoe's team wins at the PPV."

[10.0] "For a Dynamite that had only 3 matches on a 2 hour show - damn this show rocked! The matches were good to great and that Mercedes/Hazuki match was off the charts! And the promos and backstage segments were on point to providing emotional depth that we don't get to see on Dynamite all that often. It's just too damn bad that the crowd was mid the entire show except for that one fan that kept screaming the entire night. The venue I think was fantastic for it's size as it added a scale or depth to the size of the crowd like I would see on a NJPW event."

[8.0] "Cool episode of AEW Dynamite. I especially loved Hazuki vs. Mercedes Moné, an incredible match that really showcased both women. The episode felt very in-ring heavy in a good way. The Swerve Strickland-Will Ospreay segment was strong and straightforward, clearly setting up their shared goal while highlighting how far they've come since being on the same side last year. Now they've got different allies and different paths, but they're colliding at the top. The Main Event was very cool and worked as a great preview of what we might see in the Steel Cage Match at AEW Forbidden Door. Overall, this was a strong show, and I thought it was a good episode."

[9.0] "Great episode of Dynamite. Kenny Omega with a win over Tony Nese, then ZSJ and his lackies show up, but the Elite arrives to even the odds. This is heating up for Forbidden Door. Bandido & King knock off Mox & Garcia. Cage & Cope jump the Dogs, and Cage is the best promo guy there is. Money Mone with a hard fought victory in the Owen. The show finished with a fun 12-man tag match that included some of the best talent in AEW: MJF, Fletcher, Okada, Andrade, and Takeshita."

[5.0] "I'm giving it an average score thanks to the women's match, which deserved to be the main event, but the rest was generally disappointing. The 6-on-6 match didn't seem very interesting, especially as the show's finale, and the beginning was rather forgettable. I enjoyed C&C's little joke, even if the segment didn't add much. MJF's promo was good too. Ishii gets beaten up even though he's not the biggest threat, but why not? ZSJ's appearance is welcome, but this PPV is definitely no longer a forbidden door. Finally, the Swerve/Ospreay discussion didn't convince me, and Ospreay is such a stupid guy with his misogynistic way of talking about his sex life with his wife. In-ring quality: 3/6.5. Angles and segments outside of matches: 1.75/3.5. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 4.75/10. Show watched on MyAEW."

[9.0] "Excellent Dynamite. Highlight was the incredible Swerve and Ospreay promo. The two of them took a match that could've made it to the PPV on its own simply because of the stakes of the tournament and made it personal. It was a rare example of characters properly using their own personal exposition and using it to turn up the stakes. A masterclass in promos. And then we had TWO 20+ minute matches and both were very good. Hazuki vs. Mercedes was especially one of the best TV women's matches in years. Great show."

[7.0] "The wrestling itself was satisfying and left a good impression. I think the weakest point in this aspect was the opening squash. The promos were good, with MJF facing DFC and Ospreay-Swerve. The Cope and Cage segments and the Dogs were filler. It's worth mentioning that this build-up is for Forbidden Door, and we saw ZSJ as the only participant in the PPV."

[8.0] "A million times better than last week. Starts with a phenomenal open from MJF trolling both the Callis family and all the others that want his title. Then Kenny has a fun squash match before kind of building up Zack while humorously burying TMDK as a whole. Bit weird that Zack didn't speak when he had the mic. The Brodido tag went way too fucking long, Mox has gotta stop this obsession with twenty minute matches. It wasn't good enough to justify that run time. Thekla is carrying the Forbidden Door build on her back. The Mercedes Hazuki match was excellent. The Ospreay Swerve promo was excellent. The backstage stuff with Garcia was peak entertainment. Garcia right now is finding a way to stand out in a faction that has a shaky track record of stalling out its members."

[10.0] "A slow start with pre-tapes and a squash, and some rough bits dotted around not helped by a quiet crowd, but the bulk of this show, the 3 main matches and the big face to face, was absolutely outstanding. Hazuki/Mercedes was a genuine TV MOTY candidate and probably the best women's match of the year I've seen so far, opener was very good, main was really good, just loads of fun and made me want more (so ultimately the booking worked there since we're getting it in a cage Sunday) and I absolutely loved the Swerve/Ospreay segment, both men had strong, logical points and callbacks that made sense with no revisionism, great delivery and fire from both as well. Don't think it feels much like Forbidden Door coming up, they've mostly prioritised AEW stories for better or worse but in isolation I loved this show, the face-to-face and the women's Owen semi are two of the best things you'll see on wrestling TV all year long 9.5."

[6.0] "Very OK Episode of dynamite. Wasnt a fan of either 2 tag matches on the show but Mercedes VS Hazuki was FANTASTIC and the Kenny squash was fun as per usual. I will say this episode was a lackluster build to an already lackluster forbidden door card. Kevin Knight not defending his belt at Forbidden Door is kinda upsetting and we seriously need to get some New Japan or CMLL talents on this card SOONER rather than later as its already looking bleak as were 2 weeks out. Just a very mid episode of dynamite with a diamond placed in the middle."

"[8.0]. The tag and multi-man had solid action, but Hazuki and Mone were easily the match of the show. Mone specifically was great with her work into the submission attempts. Cool to see the crowd come up for Hazuki during her dives. Ospreay got it off to a TMI start, but the promo with swerve was great and was much needed for Swerve. The door isn't especially forbidden, but good work on the builds to all big matches coming up."

[8.0] "Well once again this was another really solid and enjoyable 2 hours of dynamite with lots of good about it. From an in ring standpoint i thought it was pretty good. We got another fun Kenny squash match and a cool confrontation between the Elite and TMDK. We got a really good but overly long match between Brodido and The Death Riders which has set up Mox vs Bandido at FD which is sick. We then got a fucking banger as expected from Mercedes and Hazuki probably the best women's match that has happened in North America this year. Then we got a fun road to main event for the cage match at FD which established some fun rivalries to look forward to in the match on the PPV. From a promo and segment side i thought it was pretty good. We got fun segments with MJF and Briscoe picking teams, A fun promo from Thelka to SLK. A pretty good segment to set up CnC vs the Dogs for the PPV. The peak was the Ospreay Swerve face off it was so good and built the stakes for the match so fucking well. The little backstage bit was pretty good mainly as Will finally tried to beat up DG the little prick. Ciampa and Jericho both had decnet segments but i just don't care man. Overall a really solid episode on both aspects and based on what i heard of last weeks show this was a big improvement so that is always good to see."

[9.0] "Great episode of Dynamite with only let down being Omega vs Nese, Adam Copeland & Christian Cage/The Dogs segment was interesting, Will Ospreay/Swerve Strickland segement was solidly delivered. Kenny Omega vs Tony Nese: This being a simplistic basic squash match that got Omega the win [*]. Bandido & Brody King vs Daniel Garcia & Jon Moxley: Good to see Brodido back teaming again, they had a good match against Death Riders in a match that had no build buy still felt like there was a decent build to it, King and Moxley had some interesting exchanges and Bandido picked up the win for him and King was nice to see [****]. Mercedes Mone vs Hazuki: What a fucking match, countless memorable moments and exchanges, Hazuki really put a good fight against Mone, Mone winning was the right choice in this situation even if Hazuki could have got the win [****3/4]. Don Callis Family & MJF vs Darby Allin, Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Briscoe & The Conglomeration: An action packed 17 minutes in this preview for Forbidden Door when these two teams face off again in a steel cage, DCF & MJF winning may have been questionable but hope they dont win at Fotbidden Door, Don Callis getting involved was not needed [****1/4]"

"CEO had a very good showing she is a very impressive wrestler. Hazuki certainly was able to do many of her own moves as well. This match was match of the night for me."

[8.0] "Great overall show but I do have to give some down points for how much I hated Ospreay's promo, he's far too much of a 12 year old boy talking about HAVING SEX WITH HIS WIFE, like it's all very dumb, and what does that do for Alex Windsor aswell? She's a great wrestler by herself, what does that do for her? Ospreay has always been way more suited as a short spurt promo instead of doing these loooong promos, and he got dogwalked by Swerve, and this death riders stuff inbetween it is all too ambiguous, poor build for All In."

[5.0] "While the matches were of decent quality, this felt truly like a 'Forbidden Door silly season' episode. The main feuds (MJF/Briscoe, Ospreay/Swerve, Thekla/SK, Dogs/CC&C, Kenny/ZSJ) are only getting token builds a week before the PPV. The longer term stories are way more interesting - Darby and Knight, Andrade and MJF, Takeshita and Fletcher. Mercedes is getting back to form, but her 22min bout against Hazuki was not a minute-for-minute banger. Andrade was the performer of the night, somehow thriving in this tweener role."

[7.0] "The show started off with a good MJF promo announcing his team for Forbidden door, Andrade pushed back over his selection, and it seems Trent was upset about not being picked, it's very possible he leaves the DCF to join his old friends, which is an interesting story but we're a week away from the PPV, and this seems rushed to me. Omega squashed Nese, and cut a quick promo to be interrupted by ZSJ and TMDK, The Elite evened the odds, and Kenny cut a pretty ineffective promo here, really wanted to hear Zack talk as there are a lot of fans in AEW who still don't really know his character, they know he can wrestle, but don't know anything about him. This was poor. We got a tag match that went WAAAAYYYY too fucking long, this should've gone 13 minutes tops considering there is no reason for these two teams to be fighting at all, Mox should be feuding with someone for his title going into Forbidden Door, not wrestling a random Dynamite match. The Dogs and Cope and Cage got into a fight for them to run off while C&C cut a promo, I don't know why they left the building, speaking directly to them would've been way better, this felt like an empty promo because it was. Thekla cut a promo to a camera backstage because Tony doesn't care about booking women's stories. Mercedes Hazuki was a very good match but very predictable as Hazuki is simply another wrestler, I'm sure she's awesome in ring, but we know nothing about her. Will and Swerve had an incredible segment, nothing to nit-pick here, this is how you build a PPV match, and Will continues to be the best story teller in professional wrestling. The 12 man tag introduced us to who will wrestle at FD in the steel cage, I felt the main event was somewhat effective, it built tension between MJF and Andrade, but ultimately meant nothing in the end. I think a slow reveal of the competitors over weeks of build would be more effective, instead of quick announcements and nothing matches. Overall a decent episode of Dynamite, some good - very good wrestling, but the matches apart from the Owen lacked any incentive/purpose for me, the Ospreay Strickland promo outlines what this company is capable of when it comes to storytelling and building to their PPV matches, they just choose not to. Cutting 5-10 minutes per match to build to the big PPV matches would help create more of a demand to watch the PPVs which is where the company makes their money. Still a fine episode, just wish there was more story, 6.5/10 show."

[7.0] "I thought this was a pretty good episode of Dynamite. A lot of long matches on this show but i think all of them were good with Mercedes/Hazuki being the clear highlight even if i do think it is a bit overrated. Some strong announcements for FD too with Bandido/Mox, Cope & Christian vs. the Dogs and the 12 man steel cage teams all being announced for the show. Idk why this is being marketed as a cross promotional show when there's a grand total of 1 New Japan name and 1 Stardom name announced for the show so far. The matches that have been announced look great but i think they should probably scrap this show next year because this is basically just another AEW PPV. Outside of that though, i thought this was a good show with some pretty strong wrestling on it. MOTN - Hazuki vs. Mercedes Mone"

[10.0] "Probably my favorite Dynamite of the year behind the Darby title win episode. Just a very well-paced amd exciting 2 hours of pro wrestling television. I loved the opening segment and the layers with MJF and the Callis family. The Brodido match against Death Riders was tremendous. Mercedes vs Hazuki is maybe the best women's match in North America in 2026 so far. The absurd 12-man tag match in the main event was very fun and everyone got to shine. But what really sets it alart is the incredible promo segment with Ospreay and Swerve. Neither guy is known as an ace talker, but the intensity and the storyline depth of this segment was special and very rare. Just a great, great show from start to finish."

[9.0] "Very very good episode of Dynamite largely fueled by a fantastic promo segment and fun action. Swerve and Ospreay continue to have unbeatable chemistry both in and out of ring. The women had an awesome match that got a ton of time. Finally, the main event was nonstop a nonstop party match."

[8.0] "Mixed bag. MJF's opening promo was good as always but I don't see why Kyle or Okada were so willing to help (guess it's the money). Omega stuff with zsj was mostly fine but was a reminder that the inter promotional stuff feels cooked atm. Tag match wasn't bad (asides Bandido and the ref looking stupid) but Mox found a way to make a Brodido tv match feel long. Right winner but this unfortunately sets up Bandido to be the next Mox victim. Cage promo was great, Cope could've been much better which is a shame cause the segment started strong. Women's match significantly raised the quality of this show. Ospreay/Swerve promo started off rough but found a bit of a groove as the back and forth went on. Swerve was better than usual here. Having the conglomeration in the Briscoe team was underwhelming but the main event certainly wasn't. Most of the backstage promos were decent at least."

[5.0] "Thought this show was pretty boring. There were some good matches, sure, but nothing great. Angle-wise, a real disappointment. None of the segments were any good except for Mox talking to Ospreay, and the booking leading up to the once a year cross promotional PPV continues to be the absolute drizzling shits in terms of standing out. I audibly laughed when those teams for the Steel Cage match were revealed. Like I can't complain about the *talent*, but like, come on. You could not have made more boring fucking picks. All these negative thoughts were really consuming me as I unfortunately sat through the entirety of this episode of Dynamite."

[10.0] "Giving this show a ten mainly for Mercedes/Hazuki, which was one of my favorite matches this year. Mercedes hasn't missed a beat in the ring and Hazuki looked incredible. Get that woman on a dual contract immediately. The other thing I loved on this show was the Ospreay and Swerve back and forth. To me, that is the most interesting match on Forbidden Door and should be the main event. The cage match I'm sure will be fun, but they haven't really gripped me with the build quite like Will and Swerve did tonight. Overall a very strong show tonight."

[8.0] "A great episode of dynamite, the vibes were immaculate. I questioned the match order, but it ended up being a well paced show. Swerve had a great promo. The main event was fun. Even with all that, Mercedes vs Hazuki is the clear highlight, TV MOTY by far, and one of the best matches period."