AEW’s Will Ospreay Earns Title Shot Against Swerve Strickland at Forbidden Door

The main event of tonight’s AEW Dynamite was the anticipated Forbidden Door Casino Gauntlet match, which would include a host of stars from AEW, New Japan, and CMLL stars vying for a shot at the AEW Championship. The match lived up to the billing, with surprise names in the mix that no one expected, including Lio Rush and Hechicero. Will Ospreay was also featured, as was Orange Cassidy, who was still hurt from the attack earlier in the show. The two would collide in the match’s epic finale, with Ospreay avoiding a pin and capping off the night with a huge win by pinning Cassidy. Ospreay will now face Swerve Strickland for his AEW Championship at Forbidden Door. 

Jay White and PAC hit the ring first, and PAC was instantly the aggressor, keeping White pinned to the mat by using his jacket before throwing the Bang Bang Gang leader to the floor. PAC threw White into the barricade and then slammed him into another one, and he continued to connect with big offense as he threw White back to the floor with a flip over the ropes.

White finally got to his feet and got some offense in and then Mistico entered the match. Mistico knocked both White and PAC to the floor and then leaped off the top turnbuckle and knocked them to the floor once more. White tried to halt his momentum by attempting to take off his mask, but he was unsuccessful. White then jumped outside and slammed PAC into the barricade before turning back to Mistico, but PAC threw White outside of the ring to the floor to break up a cover attempt.

Mistico clocked White with kicks to the head and went for a pin, but White kicked out of it. PAC looked to punish Jay on the outside, stomping on him numerous times, and then the fourth and final member of the match was finally revealed to be Will Ospreay. Ospreay hit a big slam on Mistico, and then Ospreay came face to face with Jay White. Ospreay then sent White reeling but that almost led to a roll-up win by PAC. Mistico then collided with both PAC and Ospreay, and that led to the next man in the match making their way to the ring, which was revealed to be Shota Umino. Umino went on a tear, clearing the ring except for Ospreay, and the two stars collided with an array of offense before White broke it up.

White then connected with vicious chops on Umino and Ospreay, which led to the next person in the match. That was none other than Claudio Castagnoli, who connected with uppercuts and stomps as he chased Jay White around the ring. Claudio even clotheslined Ospreay on his way back into the ring, but White would break up a pin attempt. Castagnoli then hooked White in the swing, and he did the same thing to Ospreay.

Castagnoli then collided with Umino and they traded uppercuts. Castagnoli waited in the ring for the next person, and it was revealed to be Lio Rush. Rush and Castagnoli traded offense but Rush made it all but impossible for Claudio to get a hit in. Then Orange Cassidy came in, despite being brutally beaten earlier in the night by Trent.

Cassidy was ready to go, but the attack certainly had an effect on him. That led to a face-off with Ospreay, but White broke that up and delivered a slam to Ospreay that knocked him out of the fight. Next in was Hechicero, who wiped out everyone with an impressive array of moves and went for a submission on Ospreay. Cassidy tried to pin him but he came right back and sent Ospreay out of the ring. Mistico was back in the mix but then Juice Robinson got involved and helped White get the better of Cassidy. Ospreay was back in and went for the storm breaker but Cassidy reversed it and almost pinned him. Osprey then got the big slam and the win, and will now face Swerve Strickland for the AEW Championship at Forbidden Door.

What did you think of the match? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!