Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay Put On A Classic At Forbidden Door

In wrestling, there are metrics used to determine the success of a particular event. Typically, PPV buys/ratings and gate numbers are gauged and compared to determine the success of a single event as well as the trends of the company. For example, last night’s Forbidden Door sold a million plus in gate revenue; the third straight year it has accomplished that feat dating back to the event’s conception. There were 11,000 plus fans at the UBS Arena in MJF country of Long Island (Elmont, NY), which was a success.

Then, there is the old adage of “sending them home happy,” and it refers to the notion that an entire undercard can be great or terrible, but the criteria that fans will use to determine the event’s overall grade is primarily based on the performance of the main event.

Swerve… While He Drives Up The Ratings

The main event of last night’s Forbidden Door will go down as one of the best matches of 2024, and there is no doubt about that. While there are plenty of AEW fans and non-fans aware of the awesomeness of both men in the main event—Swerve, entering his 3^rd month as AEW champion, successfully defended his title by pinning AEW International champion Will Ospreay—there were plenty of voices that questioned the pairing of these two. Some believed it was too early for Ospreay to receive a title shot, let alone win, while others felt it was a shame to cut Swerve’s title reign short, but it was a necessity to get the title on Ospreay.

In the PPV.com chat hosted by FightsATW’s very own Abraham Gonzalez, along with Kip Sabien and Penelope Ford, fans remarked during the Bryan Danielson match (also fantastic) that while he has made it clear he doesn’t want AEW hardware, “the belt needed to be put on him to give it back some “prestige.” The point was a good one, and a great one if it were the only option to give it “prestige,” but it is not—maybe the easiest way?

Of course, the more challenging way is the route Swerve and Ospreay traveled last night as both men banged out a classic. This was the kind of “standard-setting match” that rivals like RVD-Jerry Lynn produced to help explode ECW into that next level, and the kind of star-filled match that helps elevate an entire product, similar to Omega-Okada in NJPW.

From Start To Finish, This Match Was Ballllllliiiiinnnnn

Swerve Strickland set the stage for a big fight atmosphere from the jump as he was walked out by Jim Jones of DipSet fame. Last time out, Swerve had one of boxing’s GOATs, Floyd Mayweather Jr., seated ringside, and this time he had a Hip Hop heavyweight walk him out to the ring. This kind of backing from the culture is fantastic to see in wrestling because the black community is unfairly overlooked in this genre, historically, and the representation at the top of the card is usually non-existent. However, AEW believes in Swerve, and he has given plenty of reasons to believe, but after last night, the entire locker room and every staffer within the company should walk a little taller and with a little more pride in their champion.

For Will Ospreay, he went out and gave his all in a losing effort, proving to the detractors that say he is not ready for the top spot right now. Not only is he ready, but he should now have the respect of everyone in the back for what he was willing to put his body through. Ospreay never gave up and was responsible for some of the best near-falls in the last several years.

Everyone knew Ospreay could go, and Swerve has more than proved his ability to adapt to any style, but the way they meshed last night, you would have believed they were at the tail end of a year-long storyline that culminated in several matches. There will be great matches in the remainder of 2024 that generate all the stars a rating system offers, but will it mean more for a company than what last night’s main event meant for AEW?

At a time when AEW is on the verge of a new deal that could secure its long-term place in the sport and lift it to a new echelon, the doubters need heavy-dose infusions of the best wrestling AEW has to offer. The two men in last night’s main event gave all wrestling fans a reason to believe in a product that exists outside the mainstream. If you’re not stuck in a promotional bubble, then last night may be the catalyst for whatever success AEW has in store for the remainder of the year.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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