AEW Forbidden Door 2023: Here's How MJF Cheated to Retain Against Hiroshi Tanahashi

By Connor Casey

MJF opened Sunday's Forbidden Door pay-per-view by retaining his AEW World Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. And in typical MJF fashion, "The Salt of the Earth" had to resort to cheating in order to retain. Late in the match, Max managed to block Tanahashi's High Fly Flow finisher with his knees, then grabbed his title belt in an attempt to use it as a weapon. The referee stopped him but was too busy handing the title back to a ringside official to see Tanahashi get a visual three count via a roll-up. Max then pushed Tana into the referee and punched him in the face with his Dynamite Diamond ring, pinning the eight-time former world champion.

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Friedman has spent years badmouthing New Japan as a promotion and ranted about not wanting to take part in Sunday's show during the Double or Nothing press conference. It was only Adam Cole's goading that convinced him to not no-show Tanahashi's challenge. 

"Do I have to wrestle at Forbidden Door? F— that. Oh god, it's a f—ing indie fed, dude. I don't know, man. Jesus Christ. Look, with all due respect, their greatest legend probably couldn't lace my boots," Max said during the Double or Nothing post-show media scrum last month. "I think I would make anybody on that roster look silly, and I don't want to waste my time. I'm a very busy man," he said. "I think New Japan Pro Wrestling sucks. Except for that Great-O-Khan guy, he f—ing pops me. I like him. But everyone else there is the drizzling s—s. I don't know. It reminds me of just like a local indie fed."

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Results

  • Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun) def. Roppongi Vice & El Desperado (Zero Hour)
  • Owen Hart Cup: Athena def. Billie Starkz  (Zero Hour)
  • El Phantasmo def. Stu Grayson (Zero Hour)
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi) def. United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, TJP) vs.  (Zero Hour)
  • AEW World Championship: MJF def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson 
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Sanada vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daniel Garcia
  • Owen Hart Cup: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • AEW Women's World Championship: Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale 
  • Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Konosukta Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. The Elite (Hangman Page & The Young Bucks), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Sting, Darby Allin & Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki

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