Death’s Door cage match result, big face turn at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
AEW World Champion MJF has his next title challenger(s) following Sunday’s 12-man steel cage match at Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
Team Briscoe won the violent and bloody match that was in the co-main event position on the show and as a result, Mark Briscoe will get a title shot against MJF and he’s not the only one.
The end came when Briscoe hit a Jay Driller on Jake Doyle for the pin, but it’s what led to the pin that was newsworthy. Briscoe hit a Jay Driller on MJF, but Doyle saved him at the last second. Doyle held Briscoe for an MJF Dynamite Diamond ring shot, but MJF insisted Andrade El Idolo hold Briscoe instead.
Andrade was reluctant to do so, but MJF insisted. As MJF wound up for the shot, Andrade pushed Briscoe out of the way and hit his back elbow on MJF, laying him out. He then revealed a t-shirt that read “F*ck MJF F*ck Don” to complete the turn and set up another title challenger for MJF.
After the match, Briscoe challenged MJF to a title match for this Wednesday’s Dynamite. Additionally, Kevin Knight is owed a title shot after agreeing to join Team MJF for the match.
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AEW debuted a new rounded cage with a truss around the top for the show, one that gave wrestlers room to work on the outside of the ring and a completely different visual than traditional cage matches. Announcer Justin Roberts referred to it as “Death’s Door” before the match started.
Several rivalries were renewed during the match including Darby Allin vs. Knight and Konosuke Takeshita against both Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher.
The match featured Briscoe, Allin, Takeshita, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong against MJF, Fletcher, Knight, Andrade, Doyle and Okada.
List of notable spots & moments:
- O’Reilly took out an original Nintendo Entertainment System which got used on Fletcher including a clothesline by O’Reilly and Briscoe using a cord from a controller.
- Allin took an overhead back body drop from MJF that saw him fully rotate and smash his face into tacks.
- There was plenty of blood including from Briscoe, Fletcher and O’Reilly.
- MJF instructed Okada to open up a hockey bag that was used by Strong and out came Lio Rush who ran wild on Team MJF. MJF distracted him with the Dynamite Diamond ring, leading to an Okada rainmaker and him being stuffed back in the bag, wrapping it in a chain and shoving it back under the ring.
- Fletcher was taken out by a blue thunder bomb from Takeshita through a table on the outside of the ring. Doyle was taken out by a Strong Olympic Slam through a table as well.
- Knight hit a UFO splash on MJF by accident. As Allin gave pursuit, Knight climbed up on top of the new cage and Allin chased him up there as well. Knight grabbed a bag Allin left up there and it exploded, leading to him falling through a table. Allin then hit a coffin drop on several wrestlers below.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.