The sort of bold booking both men - and the company - needed, Swerve Strickland defending his AEW World Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay made everything that matters about All Elite Wrestling feel alive in one fell swoop.
Strickland's been dogged with accusations that he's on borrowed time as Champion and simply keeping it warm for 'The Aerial Assassin', and Forbidden Door's main event can utilise the conversation happening in reality to enhance what should be some gripping fiction. The polar opposite of 75% (more?) or AEW's matches, it is unpredictable with two awesome outcomes.
The Champion retains and he sits firmly atop the mountain having pushed back his most obvious and dangerous challenger. Ospreay lifts the gold, and the consensus best wrestler on the planet is holding the top title in the company "where the best wrestle" and knocking together a belt collector run in the process. That it will be the main event and should be the match of the night doubles down on the benefits for both men.
This was a pleasing masterstroke, and sets up a potentially spectacular summer.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
