Winners, News And Notes On June 22, 2022

AEW Dynamite added multiple matches to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door as Kazuchika Okada made a surprise appearance on AEW Dynamite. Okada will face off against Jay White, Adam Cole and Hangman Adam Page.

Also added to the card, Darby Allin, Sting, Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi vs. The Young Bucks and reDRagon; and Zach Sabre Jr. vs. a mystery opponent and the newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club as Bryan Danielson is out indefinitely.

AEW Dynamite Match Card | 6/22/2022

• Bryan Danielson’s status with Forbidden Door
• Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice vs. Will Ospreay and Aussie Open
• Christian Cage Appears Live
• Malakai Black vs. Penta Oscuro
• Hangman Adam Page vs. Silas Young
• Toni Storm vs. Marina Shafir
• Chris Jericho and Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi

Last week’s broadcast of AEW Dynamite bombed badly with 761,000 viewers, AEW Dynamite’s lowest viewership since April 2021.

• June 15, 2022—761,000
• June 8, 2022—939,000
• June 1, 2022—969,000
• May 25, 2022—929,000
• May 18, 2022—922,000

• AEW Dynamite Venue: UM-Milwaukee Panther Arena (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
• AEW Tickets Distributed: 4,336
• AEW Tickets Available: 1,438

AEW Dynamite Results | June 22, 2022

Bryan Danielson Out of Forbidden Door

Bryan Danielson adopted a heel persona to not only announce he would not be competing at Forbidden Door, but he kept his replacement a surprise. To be sure, Danielson even walked out of the “bad guy tunnel.”

Bryan Danielson was confronted by Zach Sabre Jr. at the end of this segment, and of course, Sabre Jr. received a tepid response at best.

Forbidden Door is looking more and more like the snakebitten door with no CM Punk, no MJF, no Kenny Omega and now no Bryan Danielson.

The moment Bryan Danielson said “technical wrestling” I could almost hear casual viewers rolling their eyes.

Orange Cassidy, Roppongi Vice def. Ospreay, Aussie Open

Will Ospreay was great in this match, and judging by the brief exchange between him and Orange Cassidy, their match should be a doozy this Sunday. As good as Ospreay was tonight, if 761,000 people watch, did it really happen?

Orange Cassidy got the winning fall, which tells me he won’t be winning the NJPW United States Championship in his first PPV match back.

Christian Cage Heel Promo

Christian Cage got massive heat before he even opened his mouth and it was a refreshing sight after all these non-reactions from NJPW unknowns.

Christian Cage said “try having a match that people talk about more than a week after it happened.” He also went after AEW’s toxic fanbase on Twitter the way Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, The Young Bucks and so many others did in real life.

AEW aired a profanity laced post-match interaction between Christian Cage and Jungle Boy’s family. It was filled with bleeps.

Christian Cage used Luke Perry’s death to get heat, proving that using real-life deaths to get heat is a pro wrestling thing, not a WWE thing.

Luchasaurus seemed conflicted as to whether or not he’s going to align with Christian. Though it would be great for Christian (and Luchasaurus), I’d be surprised if he did.

Malakai Black def. Penta Oscuro

This was the best wrestling match to this point, and the Fatal 4-Way should be a contender for match of the night at Forbidden Door.

Miro was the most over person in this segment, and he cut yet another lights-out backstage promo after this match.

Hangman Adam Page def. Silas Young

With Silas Young in the underdog role against Hangman Adam Page, there is little-to-no difference between the ROH roster and the AEW Dark roster.

Silas Young is very talented, but with AEW Dynamite viewership at or near crisis mode, he will not be part of the solution.

There were loud “let’s go Silas” chants, as Silas is a native of Milwaukee, Wisc.

After this match, Jay White remained mum on whom his opponent will be, but Kazuchika Okada came out to a superstar reaction. White will defend against Hangman Adam Page, Kazuchika Okada and Adam Cole.

Toni Storm def. Marina Shafir

Just weeks removed from her infamous match against Thunder Rosa, there were no instances of sand-bagging in this match, which was a vast improvement for Shafir.

Toni Storm is being built so strongly, and Thunder Rosa is being booked so poorly, that I wouldn’t be surprised if Storm pulled off the upset victory.

Following this match, Excalibur spoke at approximately 100 MPH while running down this card and promoting Blood and Guts for next week.

Moxley and Tanahashi def. Jericho and Archer

Kip Sabian once appeared with his face under a box, and once again, nobody paid any mind to it. Is this angle going anywhere?

Jim Ross, somewhat surprisingly, named Hiroshi Tanahashi in his all-time Top 10.

It’s wild to think Chris Jericho and Hiroshi Tanahashi were in a Wrestle Kingdom 14 match just two years ago. Though both have gotten older and slower, they both did more with less in this match during their exchange.

The final TNA-like segment was all over the place, with countless run-ins and random brawling all while Moxley stared down Tanahashi at the same time. It was a fitting end to this build, because it mirrored entire booking of the Forbidden Door. Very intrigued to see if AEW can bounce back from last week’s disaster.