12 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door

2. A Crowd Control Masterclass

The indomitable babyface power of Hiroshi Tanahashi will never die.

Even now, with his body breaking down and his main event schedule lessening, New Japan's Ace is one of the best in the world at generating sympathy and drama in a big spot. Here, he helped turn an AEW crowd against Jon Moxley, who has been one of the easiest wrestlers in the world to root for since returning from rehab, embarking on a second-to-none Wrestler of the Year crusade as a modern-day folk hero.

Moxley leaned into this fluid dynamic. He was genuinely nasty against Tanahashi, whom he has been trying to get a piece of for a long, long time. When a King Kong Lariat yielded only a one-count, Mox responded by furiously bashing his elbow into Tana's skull over and over and over, generating jeers for him and chants for his venerable opponent. Prior to this, he beat the Ace up on the outside and sent him through a table, with Tanahashi only beating the ten-count by the skin of his teeth.

Respect was almost restored when Moxley and Tanahashi came within a hair of shaking hands following Mox's win, though the Jericho Appreciation Society put an end to that.

The right outcome and one many would have predicted prior to the show, but the match was of a strong enough calibre to generate doubt nonetheless. That's a kind of pro wrestling magic few, if any, are able to conjure like Tanahashi. His mind for what does and doesn't work will never dull.