Kazuchika Okada Pins Hiroshi Tanahashi At AEW Forbidden Door, Earns Win For The Elite

Kazuchika Okada pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi to defeat his old NJPW rival and the Acclaimed, earning the win for himself and the Young Bucks, at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. It appeared as though the bout would start with Okada and Tanahashi renewing their rivalry, but Okada tagged out to Nick Jackson to get things started. Entering the fold, Anthony Bowens and Max Caster staged some rapid double team offense at the early going. Okada made a point of avoiding Tanahashi, abandoning his attempt at getting involved whenever "The Ace" approached. 

After tagging into the bout, Okada sought to rectify that issue by wiping Tanahashi off of the apron, but that would allow Caster to fight back into the bout and get Bowens in with the hot tag. "The Rainmaker" and Tanahashi finally squared off in the ring for the closing stretch, with the latter almost getting the pin but for a save from the Bucks. Later, Okada was in deep trouble once more when the Acclaimed landed the Arrival and Mic Drop in the middle of the ring, with Tanahashi looking to cap things off with a frog splash. A brief distraction on the outside, however, saw Tanahashi Okada get his knees up to counter the delayed splash, regaining control and taking advantage of the ensuing back-and-forth from each team to deliver the Rainmaker lariat for the pinfall. Okada looked to deliver another lariat to Tanahashi post-match, but Billy Gunn emerged to make the save.