AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door

AEW Forbidden Door has come and gone. It was an immense show, filled with title matches, tournament finals, and even the return of two former IWGP Heavyweight Champions (Jay White and Hiroshi Tanahashi). As all the time, we have broken down what happened on the AEW Forbidden Door – 6/28/2026 Results Page, and the crew has told you what they loved and what they hated. All that is left is to assign winners and losers.

Winners aren’t all the time literal winners, similar to losers aren’t all the time losers. Sometimes the winners weren’t even technically competing, like Lio Rush. Sometimes the losers stood triumphant, like Cope and Christian. The one rules to Winners and Losers is that there aren’t any rules. If you wish to keep the conversation rolling, the comments section stays open.

And so, let’s break down the winners and the losers from Sunday’s show.

It’s good to be Lio Rush without delay. He’s occupying an interesting space in AEW, where he’s daring to ask the query “What if The Boogeyman could wrestle his ass off?”

Rush’s recent Gollum-esque persona has been getting loud applause from the gang, and that trend continued in the large 12-man steel cage match, where Rush made a surprise appearance in a duffel bag. The ovation for Rush’s little cameo was legendary, and it further cements just how special Rush is. He’s all the time been a gifted wrestler, but it surely took him some time to seek out a personality fans could sink their teeth into. His surreal, borderline dadaist gremlin character has ignited fans’ imaginations, and earned him the sort of attention he could only dream of in WWE.

Very similar to Danhausen taking to WWE like a duck to water, Lio has taken to his role in AEW and ROH in similar fashion. He’s becoming a standout in a sea of “good wrestlers.” I only hope that it results in the sort of recognition it deserves.

I actually am sorry to rain on the party, but this Cope & Christian nostalgia act needs to finish. I believe it was done a disservice by my viewing of TNA Slammiversary earlier within the day. The Hardy Boys won the TNA Tag Titles, despite three other far-more deserving, younger teams being involved, and to see the night ended with the 2 biggest tag teams of 25 years ago as champion just left a sour taste in my mouth.

I do not think Cope or Christian should be put out to pasture, but I still think that lording over the tag team division isn’t the perfect use of them either. AEW is at its best when it’s giving a WWE-like highlight to groups who would’ve never gotten that highlight anywhere else, and it’s at its worst when it’s chasing former WWE Network subscribers with the ghosts of the Attitude Era’s past.

Cope and Christian as tag champions is a few TNA stuff, but TNA cannot afford them. So long as they are a team, I’m unsure either man helps construct anything that can last. They’re just killing time and burning money.

Jay White is finally back, after greater than a yr. I’ll be honest, I sort of get it. When Jay White left, AEW was just starting to strengthen their midcard titles. The International, Continental, and TNT Titles were beginning to mean something, and he’s back just in time for just about any of the titles to be value of the previous IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

It’s hard to clarify. It’s sort of a vibe thing. White is a world title guy, and so long as there’s one world title, it gives him little or no to do. Because it stands, the AEW International Title has essentially grow to be the Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Championship. It is the title of Kenny Omega, the title of Konosuke Takeshita, Kazuchika Okada, and that could be a lineage that’s worthy of Jay White. He’s back just in time to liven things up.

Daniel Garcia is one way or the other the largest loser in a gaggle that features Wheeler Yuta. I’d like to be incorrect, but he was booked in a final minute match with something called “Drilla Maloney” and still couldn’t win. Now look, I get that the previous Dan Maloney is not a scrub or anything, but there’s something just a little bit off concerning the way Daniel Garcia is moving as of late. As solid because the match on Sunday was, you’d never have guessed that this guy was “the chosen one” for a little bit bit. It really looked like he may very well be the long run of the corporate, and now he cannot even beat Drilla Maloney. It baffles the mind and dampens the spirit.

Did Daniel Garcia ever get well from being Chris Jericho’s little dancing man? It is not clear to me. Whatever enlightenment he learned from being ground into the dirt by the Death Riders seems to have worn off. His killer instinct is dulled. His winning ways have been led astray. How do you solve an issue like Daniel Garcia?

I do not care if he’s facing Kenny Omega, MJF, and even Godzilla, king of all monsters, Will Ospreay will probably be AEW World Champion in August. Swerve Strickland added a touch of unpredictability, however the dust has settled, the blood has clotted, and the Men’s Owen Hart Cup ended what number of expected: with Will Ospreay punching his ticket to the fundamental event of Wembley Stadium.

There’s still a probability he loses at Wembley, a small probability. It seems like Ospreay’s crowning moment is all but inevitable, and for that I can only say, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.”

I actually have been following Will Ospreay’s profession long enough to say that I believed he’d be dead or paralyzed years ago. He has one way or the other come back from every injury stronger, and pushed his option to the highest of the wrestling world through sheer stubbornness. He never let anyone tell him he was too flippy, or that his personality sucks, or that his friends are suspect, at best, and now he is probably going going to have “his moment” in his home country. It’s unattainable to have watched his run through the Owen Hart Cup and say he hasn’t earned it, he has. Bring on MJF, bring on Kenny Omega, bring on anyone you want, Ospreay’s moment is nigh.

You would possibly have read my Daniel Garcia piece and thought, “But Ross, Garcia wasn’t the one Death Rider who lost on Sunday,” and also you’re right. Pac has the identical issue as Daniel Garcia: I simply don’t buy him as a reputable threat anymore.

Pac can do things no other man can do, which I believe gives him the sting within the Death Rider rankings, but he isn’t someone that’s going to make me worry about whichever favorite he wrestles. In actual fact, I’d be glad to see my favorite wrestler booked against Pac, since it probably implies that he’s gonna win.

Pac is like an attack dog you’ve gotten to get through to get to Jon Moxley or Claudio Castagnoli. Hell, you Yuta might even be above him at this point. His match against Shota Umino felt completely compulsory. NJPW needed a straightforward win for his or her rising star, and –besides Daniel Garcia– you aren’t getting a neater win than Pac on a PPV. Forget “the person gravity forgot,” he’s becoming the person that the win column forgot (I’m sure he’s probably won some tag matches, but you are picking up what I’m putting down.)