Ricochet, Megan Bayne, Yuya Uemura Pick Up Wins On AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door Zero Hour
The Forbidden Door has been opened in London, England as AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling present their annual supershow from The O2 Arena in the English capital, but before the pay-per-view action got underway, the Zero Hour pre-show provided some high octane matches too.
Zero Hour kicked off with Paragon's Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong teaming up with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado, and a man NJPW fans see as the future of the company, Yuya Uemura. They took on Hechicero and Josh Alexander of The Don Callis Family, as well as CRU's Lio Rush and Action Andretti in a fast-paced contest that saw everyone get their chance to shine. However, it was Uemura who managed to shine brightest as he was the man to pick up the victory by hitting the Deadbolt on Rush. CRU and The Don Callis Family wanted to gain a measure of revenge for their loss, but they were run off by Tomohiro Ishii who came to the rescue, delivering a Brainbuster to Lance Archer in the process.
Next up was a homecoming for RevPro's Michael Oku as he teamed up with JetSpeed to take on Ricochet and The Gates of Agony. Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona made sure that Oku didn't have a good night wrestling in his home country by zoning him on the Englishman as Liona pounced Oku out of the ring, leading to Oku landing directly on his neck. Kaun would also hit a nasty lariat that also saw Oku land on his neck. "Speedball" Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight did even the score when Ricochet got involved, and tried to neutralize Kaun and Liona as Oku looked to have the match won with the Half Crab. However, Ricochet gouged Oku's eyes, allowing Gates of Agony to come in, take out Oku, and let Ricochet cover him for the win.
Before fans could catch their breath, Megan Bayne made her entrance as she teamed up with the Triangle of Madness for an all-star tag team match against Willow Nightingale, Queen Aminata, Harley Cameron, and Kris Statlander. The story of the match was Cameron trying to get revenge on Bayne for breaking her nose earlier this year, while Aminata and Thekla continued their feud that has spanned throughout the summer. Nightingale and Statlander also attempted to take care of Julia Hart and Skye Blue, and the fan favorites looked to have the advantage when Cameron used her face mask as a weapon. With that said, once Thekla and Aminata brawled to the back, Statlander accidentally took out Nightingale while trying to clothesline Bayne, and "The Megasus" hit a running Liger Bomb on Cameron for the victory.
Before the AEW World Trios Championship match between The Opps and the Bullet Club War Dogs, Tony Schiavone then introduced AEW CEO Tony Khan, as well as Martha Hart and her son Oje to confirm that Forbidden Door has set the record for the largest wrestling attendance for an event at The O2 Arena.