Forbidden Door, Perry Heel Turn, MITB, Collision Ratings and MORE – The Wrestling Estate Mailbag Week of June 19, 2023

The Wrestling Estate Mailbag is back! Be sure to send your questions to thewrestlingest@gmail.com and you could have your questions answered in a future edition of the piece.

Q: What did you think of Forbidden Door? — Jeff H., San Francisco

I thought Forbidden Door had its fair share of highs, though I also think the show fell short in some areas. I’ll start with Ospreay-Omega II, the match everyone is talking about. Some have even called it the greatest match in AEW history. I can’t get there with it, and for me, it broke a lot of rules.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the match on the whole. Will Ospreay, in particular, showed me something. I know NJPW is hurting for top guys, and there is no reason he shouldn’t be heading the top of the card. He should also be at the tippy top of WWE’s list of priorities once his negotiating period comes up. He really does check every box. All things considered, I thought Kenny Omega turned in a great performance as well and showed he’s got plenty left in the tank as a singles star. However, I felt the match went way  too long and could have been condensed by at least 10 minutes. I’m not a fan of gratuitous false finishes. That’s something I’m probably never going to come around to. I’m not necessarily advocating for guys to be winning matches with headlocks or even Jake Roberts‘ DDT, but I do think there is a happy medium to be had where you don’t have to murder the guy in the middle of the ring to pin him.

On top of that, I was amazed at how easily people were able to overlook Don Callis‘ involvement in the match. Gets ejected from the match in the opening third, then comes back in the waning minutes, and the referee is just… happy to have him. It was like he was seeing him for the first time. It was almost as if Callis pulled out the neuralizer from Men in Black and used it on everyone involved in the match as well as the fans. I think it goes without saying I am generally down on the state of officiating in AEW. The officials, namely Ref Aubrey and Bryce Remsberg, do more to get in the way of the match with their quirky mannerisms than anything that counts towards being an effective referee. In this case, I don’t blame the referee (I think it was Paul Turner) as much as I blame the agent/producer for the oversight. It’s not even that I minded Callis’ involvement in the match the way most did. I just need it to make sense.

Take away these quirks, and you’re left with an excellent match and one that, I agree, overshadowed Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. I just feel like, in hindsight, expectations for that match ran so high they were almost impossible to met, especially having to follow Ospreay vs. Omega which wrapped in the same hour as this one went off in. Based on everything I’ve seen from those who attended live, the crowd just couldn’t find a second wind for the Okada match. As unfortunate as it is, it should serve as a valuable lesson for the folks in AEW about pacing these shows because as a television wrestling product, they are still susceptible to many of the same problems WWE is.

As for the rest of the show, I thought CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima exceeded expectations given where both men are at in their careers. I also enjoyed Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale, but other than that, I thought every match either met or fell a tad short of expectations. I didn’t feel like this was an overachiever show in the same way AEW shows of past were, or how many WWE PLEs are. The four-way had too many tandem co-op’d spots to my taste, and MJF’s title defense against Hiroshi Tanahashi was a sluggish affair, and ultimately a poor opener.

On the flipside, while I was not a fan of the Jack Perry–SANADA IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match, and while I felt that match did not meet the standard of that championship, I loved the post-match turn from Perry. I wasn’t sure if we’d see the day of him getting to be heel, largely because he has progressed very little since landing in AEW and I’m not sure if he’s someone who’s going to ‘get’ what being a heel is all about. That said, he is off to a great start.  

Q: Any concern over dipping AEW Collision numbers? It dropped below 600,000 in just the second week. — Brian K., Triton, NJ

Absolutely.

I don’t think it’s time to wave the white flag on Collision just yet, but there should be a level of concern. Of course, it’s been beaten to death, but the timing of the show debuting smack-dab in the middle of the build to Forbidden Door, combined with the Saturday night timeslot is truly a kiss of death. Even if the show is the most compelling two hours of wrestling ever produced, are people still going to want to give up their Saturday nights on a weekly basis to watch it? This week’s Collision was no worse than the prior week’s. It was a good show. The problem is, it led into one of AEW’s biggest pay-per-views of the year and felt more like an afterthought on the weekend.

Additionally, I do think the show is going to have trouble in the long run differentiating itself from Dynamite and Rampage. What makes it different? Why should people care? Of course, if you’re well-versed in subtext, it’s very clear what makes the show different, it’s just that AEW can’t tell the truth about it out of fear of offending some of the roster’s most crucial actors. Therefore, they will have to find something else. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean a hard brand split, but at least give us something to sink our teeth into with this show.

Why should people drop their Saturday night plans to watch? Does it have more title fights? Bigger names? Pay-per-view quality matches?  

Q: What is Jack Perry’s ceiling as a heel? — Dylan L, Westminster, CA

I mentioned it above, but turning Jack heel is what needed to be done. I’m thankful it wasn’t Hook, though AEW has completely tarnished what they had in Hook, in my opinion. If the reports are to be believed, Taz is 100 percent correct in pushing for a WWE move for his son, and the fact that he is not a much bigger deal than he is right now falls squarely on the shoulders of Tony Khan.

But you didn’t ask about Hook, you asked about the (presumably) former Jungle Boy. No, I don’t think Jungle Boy has progressed in any way since coming into the fold, and that’s even with his near-two year program teaming and feuding with Christian Cage. That doesn’t mean all is lost. Turning heel is the best thing a young talent can do, but it needs to be done right. That means having a good reason to turn, maybe even a valid reason to turn, and then having the right opponents to work with. This is a time when young wrestlers truly start to find themselves.

Think about it: You go from people cheering your name to booing you every time you walk to the ring. After spending such a large chunk of time being revered by the fans, it’s going to affect the wrestler’s psyche consciously or unconsciously, and that’s going to lead to more natural, raw (pardon the pun) reactions and interactions. Through this, we, as fans, are going to get to the bottom of who Jack Perry really is, and that will ultimately determine how long he is for pro wrestling. Dominik Mysterio really is a great example, maybe even more so than The Rock because of how little life experience he has, much like Jack. Mysterio and Jack, by the way, are both 26.

Mysterio wasn’t great on the stick when he turned heel. Depending on who you ask, he may still not be. Say what you want about him now, but his current character comes off as real, organic, and is legitimately over.

In a perfect world, Jack’s career will have a similar trajectory. The blue print is there, anyway. It’s now up to AEW to make it happen.  

Q: Who has the most to gain from Money in the Bank this weekend? — Ian M., Pensacola, FL

Three words…. err…. two words? (Is LA one word or two)? I don’t think it’s a word at all. Regardless, Saturday night should be the LA Knight show. Knight has done everything right in this current run he’s on, and then some. He may be 40, but he’s a lean 40 by the looks of him, and WWE need to do the right thing and crown him Mr. Money in the Bank.

He is reportedly the odds-on favorite to win the match this weekend, and people can’t get enough of this guy. It just goes to show how perception can oftentimes be reality in the world of wrestling. As a member of the NWA, Knight was a top guy to be sure, but I wouldn’t have (and did not) look at him at a level any higher than Nick Aldis. He and WWE have been the perfect match, and it is time to reward him with the Money in the Bank briefcase.

I’d also like to start a Prayer Circle for Logan Paul to NOT walk away as Mr. Money in the Bank. WWE’s thirst for mainstream relevance is very real, but while there is some appeal to Paul unpredictably showing up on Raw and Smackdown with the briefcase, I’d much rather him start building to his next WrestleMania program and have Knight reap the benefits of carrying the briefcase around for almost a full year. He’s a seasoned veteran of the business — this much is true. If anyone is going to be able to parlay the briefcase into stardom and bring a fresh, new energy to the concept, it’s going to be the man formerly known as Eli Drake.

You can follow The Wrestling Estate on Twitter @thewrestlingest and Jack Goodwillie @jackgoodwillie.

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