AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door: Lee/Strickland win tag match

CHICAGO — Before the third AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Buy-In preshow match would continue, there was some promo action.

Taz kept fanning the fires of an ongoing feud between Team Taz members Ricky Starks and “Powerhouse” Will Hobbs and Swerve In Our Glory. The latter team comprises of Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland.

However, this is not the match on the card, as Lee and Strickland’s opponents were from NJPW. Their opponents were Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado.

At first glance, it appears that Lee has shed a noticeable amount of weight.

AEW Buy-In match 3: Lee/Strickland vs. Kanemaru/El Desperado

Kanemaru lured Lee into the corner, temporarily frustrating him with a showing of speed. That became a short-lived affair once Lee grabbed him by the face. Kanemaru was spiked down like a basketball.

Both teams would tag in their partners as Strickland and Desperado tie up. Desperado struck early with a numero dos leglock but was met with a rope break by Strickland. When action continued on the floor, Desperado once again attempted the numero dos lock on Strickland, stretching Strickland’s knee against the back of his head.

Strickland caught Desperado with a middle rope dropkick back inside the ring.

A brief instance of bad ring psychology

While the former team has had occasional issues due to botching moves, tonight was no different. Strickland accidentally dropkicked Lee in the knee. It led the Japanese team to take advantage while working over Lee’s knee in the process.

Lee attempts a Spirit Bomb on Kanemaru but was countered by a dropkick from Desperado. It was followed up by a takedown via a hurricanrana.

Strickland got the tag from Lee and landed a brainbuster on Desperado for a near fall. It was met with a spinebuster in return by Desperado, followed by a back suplex-kick combo for a near fall. Lee tried to step inside the ring but Desperado hit Lee with a low blow via a kick on the middle rope. Strickland hit an inverted backbreaker, followed by a flat liner, on Desperado.

Lee and Kanemaru got their respective tags for their teams, and Kanemaru went back after Lee’s legs. Kanemaru locked in the figure-four leglock on Lee, Desperado got numero dos on Strickland. Desperado’s lock did not last, as Lee got ahold of him by the throat and tossed him into Kanemaru to break the hold.

Kanemaru then went for a sunset flip on Lee but it was countered with another spirit bomb attempt. It was broken up by Desperado.

Kanemaru took a swig from his trademark whiskey bottle and spat it into Lee’s face. He then went for a cradle, but that only got a two-count.

Strickland took Desperado out of action with a kick. Meanwhile, Lee got Kanemaru with a massive Big Bang Catastrophe for the pinfall.

It was a very good match with some great ring psychology from Desperado and Kanemaru in their AEW debuts.

Winner: Lee/Strickland via pinfall (12:04)

Post-match

After the match, Starks and Hobbs cut a money promo from one of the skyboxes challenging Lee and Strickland for a match.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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