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On paper, an AEW pairing of Chris Jericho and Minoru Suzuki doesn't make much sense. They're like making a bathing suit out of silk or dipping apple slices into fish sauce – two good things are good on their own but seemingly incompatible together.
But in the ring, melded together into a make-shift trios tag team alongside Sammy Guevara? Somehow that pairing worked like pizza-flavored ice cream, much to the appreciation of the fans assembled at the United Center and watching Forbidden Door from the confines of their own home. The Jericho Appreciation Society put in the effort, worked over their opponents, and, ultimately, secured the victory in the opening match of Forbidden Door; a match that was very good indeed.
Congratulations to the Jericho Appreciation Society, you officially have the one-man advantage at Blood and Guts.
JAS secured the win at Forbidden Door.
It took less than five minutes for the opening match of Forbidden Door to turn into a hard-hitting chop-fest between Eddie Kingston and Minoru Suzuki but hey, it's better late than never, as the crowd in attendance made abundantly clear with their incredible reactions. Kingston chopped and chopped and chopped away and yet, as the match proceeded, each hit seemingly only made his opponent, the leader of the NJPW faction Suzuki-Gun, stronger – as if the pain instead lit a fire inside his cold wrestling heart that bred a sadistic desire to inflict pain regardless of the match's outcome.
If that is, in fact, the case, then Minoru should leave the United Center one happy man, as he delivered some incredible hits and holds, including one particularly gruesome octopus hold that almost cost Kingston his finger, in what was ultimately a winning effort for his team.
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1541214886444793859?s=20&t=Y6KcychXlrhbixBDyaw08Q
Make no doubt about it, this match had a little bit of everything; Sammy got in his spots, as did the wrestler affectionately nicknamed “Shooter” by Jon Moxley, and you'd think Wheeler Yuta was one of the pillars of AEW by the way he was cheered on by the assembled crowd, signifying a fantastic effort by Tony Khan to build up his profile as a wrestler.
Goodness, the match even featured a top rope suicida by Minoru Suzuki that… actually never mind, Suzuki hinted at hitting the move but ultimately shrugged it off in a move that initially disappointed but later drew cheers from 16,000 fans in attendance.
Though things ultimately broke down towards the end of the match, as, after getting revenge on Jericho for how he and his father Red Shoes were treated at Wrestle Kingdom by “The Painmaker” by putting him in the Walls of Jericho, Umino was overpowered by the trio that also featured Suzuki, Guevara, and a bat-wielding Tay Conti, ultimately eating a Judas Effect on the way to a 1-2-3.
With a date now on the books for Blood and Guts against the Black Pool Combat Club, let's hope whomever Bryan Danielson handpicked as his replacement is a good worker, as his team is going to be a man down for much of the event, at least until all 10 participants make it into the match. Fortunately for Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and company, at least they won't have to wrestle Minoru Suzuki in a Blood and Guts bout, as that might just be the scariest proposition in all of wrestling history.
