Before the Forbidden Door PPV ever existed, the term was first coined during the build to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Chris Jericho's meeting at New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 14. Since then, the Forbidden Door has been taken and everything ran with, as AEW, Impact Wrestling, and New Japan have all continued to work with a sort-of open door policy.
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Since AEW launched in 2019, cross-promotional matches have been occurring fairly regularly for the company, with partnerships between All Elite Wrestling and other promotions like NJPW, AAA, TJPW, and Impact Wrestling. The success of this PPV will hopefully lead to more partnerships and special events that will change the landscape of wrestling.
10 Wheeler Yuta vs El Desperado
The 2022 Best of the Super Juniors tournament saw outside involvement from promotions like AEW, Impact Wrestling, and GLEAT, with Wheeler Yuta serving as AEW's representative. While Yuta has become quite the star with the AEW audience following his match against Jon Moxley and his induction into the Blackpool Combat Club, his tournament got off to a slow start.
Halfway through this year's BOSJ, Yuta would face off against one of the stars of New Japan's Junior Heavyweight Division, El Desperado. This match would be the one that turned things around for Wheeler, with the Japanese crowds embracing him after this exciting bout between the two junior stars.
9 Christian Cage vs Josh Alexander
Upsetting Kenny Omega on the debut episode of AEW Rampage, Christian Cage would become the Impact World Champion in shocking fashion. While fans awaited Omega to face off against Josh Alexander, Kenny's injuries were stacking up and the choice to move the belt onto Christian to ease The Cleaner's load was made.
Despite Josh Alexander not getting his singles match against Kenny Omega, Impact Wrestling worked with the circumstances and got to have Alexander beat Christian Cage, a true hall of fame talent, at Bound For Glory. The two had a great match, and with the aftermath of the match, it would set Josh on a course to become the face of Impact Wrestling over the next several months.
8 Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs Jon Moxley & Death Triangle
While Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, known as The Good Brothers, are not everyone's cup of tea, when the duo is motivated, they tend to deliver. During 2021, they would find themselves aligned with Kenny Omega on AEW and Impact Wrestling programming, with the trio main-eventing the AEW Beach Break event against the unlikely trio of Jon Moxley, PAC, and Fenix.
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In a great turn of events, the six men all worked fantastically together, putting on a memorable affair in a nearly 16-minute long tag-team main event. Following the match, New Japan's KENTA would kick down the Forbidden Door, as he would lay out Jon Moxley with a GTS, setting up both their singles match and a future tag match on AEW TV.
7 Kenny Omega vs Sami Callihan
Despite being a polarizing figure, Sami Callihan has managed to carve out a good space for himself within Impact Wrestling as one of the figureheads of the company. Managing to work well as both a heel and a babyface, it was only natural that the company would use Callihan as one of Kenny Omega's major challengers during his run as Impact World Champion.
The two would meet at 2021's Slammiversary show, with a spectacular main event as the two went to war in a No Disqualification Match for Impact Wrestling's top prize. Omega would retain after almost 30 minutes of violence, with it being his last successful defense of the championship before dropping the belt to Christian Cage.
6 Dax Harwood vs Will Ospreay
After making his long-awaited AEW debut, Will Ospreay would lose his first match in the company in a trios bout, teaming with Aussie Open against FTR & Trent. The following week, Ospreay would come back with a vengeance against Dax Harwood of FTR, at AEW Dynamite: Road Rager.
A special singles match between the two men would be one of the marquee matches on the show, and it certainly earned that right by the time the final bell had rung. Ospreay and Dax went to war on Dynamite, laying it all on the line and delivering an incredible wrestling match for the free television audience. For those that missed this, it is actively worth seeking out online, with Ospreay showing why he is one of the best in the world, and Dax continuing to make a case as one of the best wrestlers of 2022.
5 Jon Moxley vs Will Ospreay
A dream match for many, Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay would come face to face at New Japan's Windy City Riot event in the Spring of 2022, going to war in the main event of New Japan's Chicago show.
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Moxley would walk away with the victory, albeit with a bit of a controversy from the referee. The match Ospreay and Moxley had was undeniably great, though the entire event was plagued with production issues, leading to many either not being able to see the match or having issues during it.
4 KENTA & Kenny Omega vs Lance Archer & Jon Moxley
Coming off of the shocking finale at AEW's Beach Break show, KENTA would team up with former Bullet Club leader, Kenny Omega, to do battle against the unlikely duo of Lance Archer & Jon Moxley in the main event of AEW Dynamite. The teams would square off in a Falls Count Anywhere Match, a rare stipulation for AEW, that was utilized greatly with the empty Daily's Place setting.
Battling both in the arena and in backstage areas, all four men would put their all into the match, with the defining moment being KENTA's massive stage dive and double stomp to Jon Moxley through a table at ringside.
3 Jon Moxley vs Shingo Takagi
2019 saw Dean Ambrose's WWE career come to an end, before shocking the world with a genuine Paradigm Shift, debuting at AEW's Double or Nothing PPV in May of that year. Before long, Moxley would arrive in New Japan as well, donning the Death Rider nickname as he would enter that year's G1 Climax.
Early in the tournament, Moxley would find himself facing off against future IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Shingo Takagi. For those unfamiliar with Takagi's style, he is the perfect opponent for Moxley and the match they had proved that, with Moxley picking up a win against him as he had a strong start in the G1.
2 Jon Moxley vs Tomohiro Ishii
Heading into the G1, one of the matches that fans around the world were actively looking forward to, was a meeting between Jon Moxley and Tomohiro Ishii. New Japan would deliver, with the two men having one of the most memorable matches of the entire tournament from 2019.
Main-eventing the sixth night of the 2019 G1 Climax, Moxley and Ishii would have a show-stealing, 20-minute battle in which both men attempted to murder one another. For those looking for hard-hitting, strong style matches, this is a must-see match between two of the best.
1 Bryan Danielson vs Minoru Suzuki
Coming into AEW with a goal to show the world the difference between Bryan Danielson and Daniel Bryan, The American Dragon would get to work in the early months of his run with AEW, taking on Kenny Omega at Arthur Ashe stadium, AEW's biggest show to date. Early in October, fans would be treated to another major match for Bryan, this time a cross-promotional bout between AEW and New Japan.
In October 2021, Bryan Danielson would face off against Minoru Suzuki during a special live episode of AEW Rampage. The two men delivered everything that fans could have hoped for between the two of them, with it being one of the best matches in AEW Rampage history.
