12 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door

12. Swerve & Lee Highlight The Buy In

El Desperado Swerve Strickland
AEW

If the Buy In pre-show is to serve as a last-minute way of convincing would-be customers to part coin for the pay-per-view, Swerve In Our Glory's victory over Suzuki-gun provided the bulk of the argument.

Built primarily around El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru attempting to neutralise Keith Lee by targeting his legs, it saw the former NXT Champion and Swerve Strickland overcome their recent issues and their opponents when Kanemaru ate a Big Bang Catastrophe while his partner was out of the picture. Afterwards, Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs spat fire on the microphone, challenging their rivals to another match.

Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI looked good in their win over The Factory's QT Marshall and Aaron Solo to kick things off. Elsewhere, Lance Archer vs. Nick Comoroto was occasionally awkward and comprised primarily of two gigantic men bashing into each other, while Gunn Club's streak as the undercard's most gleefully obnoxious bell-end group continued in a TV-calibre bout pitting them and Max Caster against an LA Dojo crew.

Though lacking in anything that would rival the main card, the Buy In was a gentle net positive, thanks, primarily, to Swerve and Lee. Their AEW pairing has proven an inspired choice thus far.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.