AEW Forbidden Door has come and gone. It was an immense show, full of title matches, tournament finals, and even the return of two former IWGP Heavyweight Champions (Jay White and Hiroshi Tanahashi). As always, we've 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's left is to assign winners and losers.Winners aren't always literal winners, just like losers aren't always losers. Sometimes the winners weren't even technically competing, like Lio Rush. Sometimes the losers stood triumphant, like Cope and Christian. The only rules to Winners and Losers is that there are no rules. If you want to keep the conversation rolling, the comments section remains open.And so, let's break down the winners and the losers from Sunday's show.
It's good to be Lio Rush right now. He's occupying an interesting space in AEW, where he's daring to ask the question "What if The Boogeyman could wrestle his ass off?"Rush's new Gollum-esque persona has been getting loud applause from the crowd, and that trend continued in the massive 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 always been a gifted wrestler, but it took him a while to find a character fans could sink their teeth into. His surreal, borderline dadaist gremlin character has ignited fans' imaginations, and earned him the kind of attention he could only dream of in WWE.Much like 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 leads to the kind of recognition it deserves.
I really am sorry to rain on the party, but this Cope & Christian nostalgia act needs to end. I think it was done a disservice by my viewing of TNA Slammiversary earlier in 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 two biggest tag teams of 25 years ago as champion just left a sour taste in my mouth.I don't think Cope or Christian need to be put out to pasture, but I still think that lording over the tag team division is not the best use of them either. AEW is at its best when it is giving a WWE-like spotlight to teams who would've never gotten that spotlight 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 some TNA stuff, but TNA can't afford them. As long as they're a team, I'm not sure either man is helping build anything that will last. They're just killing time and burning money.
Jay White is finally back, after more than a year. I'm going to be honest, I kind of get it. When Jay White left, AEW was just beginning to strengthen their midcard titles. The International, Continental, and TNT Titles were starting to mean something, and he's back just in time for pretty much any of the titles to be worth of the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion.It's hard to explain. It's kind of a vibe thing. White is a world title guy, and as long as there's one world title, it gives him very little to do. As it stands, the AEW International Title has essentially become the Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Championship. It's the title of Kenny Omega, the title of Konosuke Takeshita, Kazuchika Okada, and that is a lineage that is worthy of Jay White. He's back just in time to liven things up.
Daniel Garcia is somehow the biggest loser in a group that includes Wheeler Yuta. I'd love to be wrong, but he was booked in a last minute match with something called "Drilla Maloney" and still couldn't win. Now look, I get that the former Dan Maloney isn't a scrub or anything, but there is something just a little off about the way Daniel Garcia is moving these days. As solid as the match on Sunday was, you'd never have guessed that this guy was "the chosen one" for a little bit. It really looked like he could be the future of the company, and now he can't even beat Drilla Maloney. It baffles the mind and dampens the spirit.Did Daniel Garcia ever recover from being Chris Jericho's little dancing man? It's 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 a problem like Daniel Garcia?
I don't care if he's facing Kenny Omega, MJF, or even Godzilla, king of all monsters, Will Ospreay will probably be AEW World Champion in August. Swerve Strickland added a hint of unpredictability, but the dust has settled, the blood has clotted, and the Men's Owen Hart Cup ended how many expected: with Will Ospreay punching his ticket to the main event of Wembley Stadium.There's still a chance he loses at Wembley, a small chance. It feels like Ospreay's crowning moment is all but inevitable, and for that I can only say, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."I have been following Will Ospreay's career long enough to say that I thought he'd be dead or paralyzed years ago. He has somehow come back from every injury stronger, and pushed his way to the top 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 likely going to have "his moment" in his home country. It's impossible 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 like, Ospreay's moment is nigh.
You might have read my Daniel Garcia piece and thought, "But Ross, Garcia wasn't the only Death Rider who lost on Sunday," and you're right. Pac has the same issue as Daniel Garcia: I simply do not buy him as a credible threat anymore.Pac can do things no other man can do, which I think gives him the edge in the Death Rider rankings, but he is not someone that is going to make me worry about whichever favorite he wrestles. In fact, I'd be glad to see my favorite wrestler booked against Pac, because it probably means that he's gonna win.Pac is like an attack dog you have 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 an easy win for their rising star, and besides Daniel Garcia you don't get an easier win than Pac on a PPV. Forget "the man gravity forgot," he's becoming the man that the win column forgot (I'm sure he's probably won some tag matches, but you're picking up what I'm putting down.)
