Forbidden Door (2025)
| AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Promotional poster featuring Will Ospreay and various AEW and NJPW wrestlers | |||
| Promotion(s) | All Elite Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
| Date | August 24, 2025 | ||
| City | London, England | ||
| Venue | The O2 Arena | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| Forbidden Door chronology | |||
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| AEW in the United Kingdom chronology | |||
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The 2025 Forbidden Door, also promoted as Forbidden Door: London, is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and supershow co-produced by American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It will be the fourth annual Forbidden Door event and will take place on Sunday, August 24, 2025, at The O2 Arena in London, England, during the United Kingdom's August Bank Holiday weekend, previously associated with AEW's All In. This will be the first Forbidden Door to take place in August, following the first three events in June, and the first to take place outside North America.
Production
Background
Forbidden Door is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Established in 2022, the event is held during the summer and features direct competition between wrestlers from the two companies.[1][2] The 2024 event also featured some wrestlers from NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom and Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).[3] The event takes its name from the same term often used by AEW when referring to working with other professional wrestling promotions.[4]
In August 2024, advertisements outside Wembley Stadium in London, England were shown days before AEW's All In event, which was held at the venue on August 25, advertising that the 2025 Forbidden Door would emanate from London.[5] During All In's Zero Hour pre-show, the 2025 Forbidden Door was confirmed to be held in London on August 24, 2025.[5] This will mark the first Forbidden Door event held outside of North America, and AEW's fifth event overall outside the continent. This also marks the first Forbidden Door held in August, as the prior three events were held in June, and in turn will be held during the United Kingdom's August Bank Holiday weekend, which was previously occupied by AEW's All In the prior two years.[6][5] On April 15, 2025, the venue was confirmed as The O2 Arena with tickets going on sale on May 2.[7]
Storylines
Forbidden Door will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines.[8] Storylines are produced on AEW's weekly television programs, Dynamite and Collision, as well as NJPW, Stardom, and CMLL events.
On May 31, it was announced that Hiroshi Tanahashi would wrestle at the event, in what will be his final match in the United Kingdom, against a to be determined opponent.[9]
During the July 23 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that an eliminator tournament would be held to determine who would challenge The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Forbidden Door.[10]
At All In: Texas, Swerve Strickland teamed with Will Ospreay and defeated The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson). As a result of the loss, The Young Bucks were stripped of their Executive Vice President titles. Also at All In: Texas, Kazuchika Okada defeated Kenny Omega to win the inaugural AEW Unified Championship. On the July 16 episode of Dynamite, Okada, who was a member of The Elite with The Young Bucks, called out Swerve for causing his stablemates' downfall. On the July 31 episode of Collision, Strickland challenged Okada to a title match at Forbidden Door, which Okada accepted.[11]
At All In: Texas, Athena won the Casino Gauntlet match to earn a contract for an AEW Women's World Championship match at any time. On the July 31 episode of Collision, she signed her contract to challenge the champion, Toni Storm, at Forbidden Door. Athena stated that Storm had bad luck in London, including losing the title at All In: London in 2024.[12]
On August 4, 2025, AEW announced a four-way qualifying match for the AEW TBS Championship between Alex Windsor, Billie Starkz, Queen Aminata, and Skye Blue for the August 6 episode of Dynamite. Windsor won the match to represent AEW and challenge the champion, Mercedes Moné, at Forbidden Door.[13] The title match will also feature one representative each from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and World Wonder Ring Stardom.[14]
During the August 9 episode of Collision, AEW announced a four-way match between Daniel Garcia, Hechicero, Lee Moriarty, and Nigel McGuinness for the August 16 episode of Collision. The winner will challenge Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door.[15]
Matches
| No. | Matches* | Stipulations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. TBA | TBA match[16] | ||||
| 2 | The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) (c) vs. Eliminator Tournament winners | Tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship[17] | ||||
| 3 | Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland | Singles match for the AEW Unified Championship[18] | ||||
| 4 | "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena | Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship[19] This is Athena's Casino Gauntlet championship match. | ||||
| 5 | Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Alex Windsor (AEW) vs. TBD (CMLL) vs. TBD (Stardom) | Four-way match for the AEW TBS Championship[20] | ||||
| 6 | Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. TBA (NJPW) | Singles match for the AEW TNT Championship[21] | ||||
| 7 | Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. TBD (AEW) | Singles match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship[22] | ||||
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AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Tournament
| Quarterfinals Dynamite (July 23 and 30, 2025) Collision (July 26 and 31, 2025) | Semifinals Collision (July 31, 2025) Dynamite (August 6, 2025) | Final TBA | ||||||||||||
| FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| JetSpeed (Kevin Knight and "Speedball" Mike Bailey) | 17:03[10] | |||||||||||||
| FTR | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Bang Bang Gang | 15:14[25] | |||||||||||||
| Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Big Bill and Bryan Keith | 12:25[23] | |||||||||||||
| FTR | ||||||||||||||
| Brodido | ||||||||||||||
| The Outrunners (Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd) | 14:00[24] | |||||||||||||
| The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Young Bucks | 20:54[26] | |||||||||||||
| Brodido | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) | 12:31[25] | |||||||||||||
| Brodido (Brody King and Bandido) | Pin | |||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ Nason, Josh (February 4, 2021). "AEW, New Japan Pro Wrestling Established Working Relationship". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ Barrasso, Justin (April 20, 2022). "Tony Khan Announces First-Ever AEW, NJPW Joint Pay-Per View Event". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ Lee, Joseph (May 8, 2024). "Rocky Romero Confirms STARDOM Involvement in AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, CMLL 'Very Likely'". 411Mania. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (February 10, 2022). "Tony Khan Admits He Butchered His 'Forbidden Door' Definition, Which Led To Securing Jay White". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
The term "forbidden door" has always been used in reference to companies working together and not signing exclusively with one company.
- ^ a b c Thomas, Jeremy (August 25, 2024). "AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 Confirmed For London". 411Mania. Archived from the original on August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (August 25, 2024). "Date set for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 in London". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
- ^ Ucchino, Rick (April 15, 2025). "Tony Khan Announces AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Date and Location". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ Nason, Josh (May 31, 2025). "Hiroshi Tanahashi's final UK match set for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". F4WOnline.
- ^ a b Barnett, Jake (July 23, 2025). "AEW Dynamite results (7/23): Barnett's live review of AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Wheeler Yuta in a non-title match, AEW Women's Champion Toni Storm vs. Billie Starkz in an eliminator match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net.
- ^ A. Knight, Cain (July 31, 2025). "Okada vs. Swerve title match is official at AEW Forbidden Door, b**ch". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
- ^ Pollock, John (July 31, 2025). "Athena to challenge "Timeless" Toni Storm at Forbidden Door". POSTWrestling. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
- ^ Russell, Skylar (August 6, 2025). "Alex Windsor Pins Billie Starkz On AEW Dynamite, Set For TBS Title Match At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". Fightful. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
- ^ Renner, Ethan (August 4, 2025). "Forbidden Door TBS title qualifier added to AEW Dynamite". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
- ^ Howard, Ryan (August 9, 2025). "AEW Collision live results: Hangman Page & JetSpeed vs. LFI". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
- ^ Nason, Josh (May 31, 2025). "Hiroshi Tanahashi's final UK match set for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ^ Nason, Josh (July 23, 2025). "AEW Tag Team title eliminator tournament kicks off, first team advances". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
- ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (July 31, 2025). "IT'S OFFICIAL! At AEW x NJPW #ForbiddenDoor, @rainmakerXokada will defend the #AEW Unified Championship against the challenger, @swerveconfident. Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TNT & HBO Max" (Tweet). Retrieved July 31, 2025 – via Twitter.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 31, 2025). "Athena To Challenge Toni Storm For AEW Women's Title At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". Fightful. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (August 4, 2025). "Forbidden Door AEW TBS Title Four-Way Qualifier Set For 8/6 AEW Dynamite". Fightful. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
- ^ DeFelice, Robert (August 9, 2025). "Kyle Fletcher Challenges NJPW To Send Their Best To Face Him At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". Fightful. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
- ^ Flanagan, Neal (August 9, 2025). "AEW announces four-way match to earn shot at Zack Sabre Jr's IWGP Title at Forbidden Door". POSTWrestling. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
- ^ Powell, Jason (July 26, 2025). "AEW Collision results (7/26): Powell's live review of Dustin Rhodes vs. Lee Moriarty for the TNT Championship, Athena vs. Alex Windsor for the ROH Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
- ^ Powell, Jason (July 30, 2025). "AEW Dynamite results (7/30): Powell's live review of Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm and Alex Windsor vs. Athena and Billie Starkz, Mark Briscoe vs. Ricochet". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ a b Barnett, Jake (July 31, 2025). "AEW Collision results (7/31): Barnett's review of Dustin Rhodes vs. Kyle Fletcher in a Chicago Street Fight for the TNT Title, FTR vs. Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn, and GOA vs. Brodido in tag tournament matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (August 6, 2025). "AEW Dynamite results (8/6): Barnett's live review of MJF vs. Mark Briscoe, The Young Bucks vs. Brodido in a tournament match, four-way for a spot in the TBS Title match at Forbidden Door". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 6, 2025.