.png "AEW×NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR 2025") |
| Forbidden Door 2025 |
After AEW announced most of the matches for Forbidden Door 2025, I stood in front of the posters with one big question running through my head:
What happened to Forbidden Door?
Does this card promise a strong event like the three previous editions?
And will the partnership between AEW and NJPW continue in the same way?
In today’s article, I’ll try to answer all these questions.
Forbidden Door 2025 Card.
Looking at this year’s card, something feels off — almost incomplete.
The first thing that comes to mind is: Where are the Japanese stars who are supposed to represent NJPW on this show?
Forbidden Door is known as a joint event between AEW and NJPW under AEW’s management each year. With the event approaching, fans usually get excited because of the Japanese wrestlers traveling to America for “dream matches” against AEW stars. But this year feels very different.
So far, only three NJPW wrestlers are confirmed:
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Championship — with an obvious outcome, Fletcher retaining his title.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Nigel McGuinness for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship — again, a predictable result, with Sabre retaining. This match is clearly booked just to feature the hometown boy Nigel McGuinness in London.
Hiroshi Tanahashi in a Lights Out Steel Cage match — which feels more like adding a “big name” to the poster rather than building something meaningful.
If we go back to Forbidden Door 2022, there were 11 Japanese wrestlers from NJPW featured on the card. But today, NJPW’s presence feels weak, and Tony Khan seems to have added Tanahashi simply as a marketing attraction.
Another weakness of the event is that championships rarely change hands unless both companies have already agreed in long-term storylines. For example:
Will Ospreay losing the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 17 to Kenny Omega, only to win it back at Forbidden Door six months later.
Jon Moxley winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship from Tetsuya Naito, only for Naito to reclaim it at Forbidden Door 2024.
Poor Booking Decisions.
This year’s build also suffered from questionable booking decisions by Tony Khan.
The most obvious one was the feud between AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page and the Casino Gauntlet winner MJF, who earned the right to challenge for the title at any time.
Many fans believe it was a mistake to rush MJF’s cash-in against Hangman. No matter the result, one side will be damaged:
If Hangman retains, MJF loses credibility after months of careful buildup.
If MJF wins, Hangman looks weak, losing his title in his very first big defense after All In.
A smarter booking choice would have been to let Hangman defend against an NJPW star, someone credible but safe to lose, so Hangman could look strong heading into a proper showdown with MJF at All Out. Instead, Khan took the easy road — something we often criticize WWE for doing.
Another mistake was reuniting Edge and Christian for a tag team match against Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian on this show. Their first match back together after 23 years should have been saved for All Out in Canada, their home country. But Khan rushed it just to stack the Forbidden Door card.
Losing Its Original Identity
When you look at this year’s matches, the core idea of Forbidden Door feels lost.
Take the Unified Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and Swerve Strickland. While it’s an exciting matchup, both men are part of the AEW roster, meaning the belt stays in AEW.
The whole point of Forbidden Door was to showcase AEW vs. NJPW clashes. But this year we see several AEW vs. AEW matches:
Edge & Christian vs. Nick Wayne & Kip Sabian.
The Hurt Syndicate defending against either FTR or Brodido.
This dilutes the unique selling point of the event.
Why Did It Become Like This?
The reason is simple: NJPW has given in to all of Tony Khan’s demands.
They allowed:
Will Ospreay to lose the IWGP US title to Kenny Omega (an AEW star) at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Their world champion to lose to Jon Moxley (AEW) and then regain it later.
And most recently, AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita winning the prestigious G1 Climax by defeating EVIL in the finals.
This shows NJPW’s weakness and their willingness to sacrifice prestige for access to the American market.
On top of that, many stars who used to represent NJPW in Forbidden Door are now part of AEW’s roster, such as Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada, further blurring the lines.
Will the Partnership Continue?
The future depends on two factors:
1- NJPW’s response.
If they keep letting AEW use their stars simply to boost AEW talent, they risk damaging their own brand. At some point, they might have to push back.
2- AEW’s fanbase.
Many hardcore AEW fans already feel like the show has turned from AEW × NJPW into AEW × AEW. If fans lose interest, buy rates will drop, and Tony Khan may be forced to bring back more NJPW talent in future editions to save the event.
Overall.
I personally hope Forbidden Door goes back to what made it special in the first two years. In my opinion, Forbidden Door 2023 was the best edition so far.
But if Tony Khan books Forbidden Door 2026 in the same way as this year, I honestly don’t see the event continuing, and the AEW × NJPW partnership could very well come to an end.
If you reached to this point , thank you for reading!
And I’d love to know your opinion in the comments section.
You can read too:
AEW × NJPW Forbidden Door: The Full Story Behind the Historic Partnership
Karrion Kross’s Future with WWE: Is the Dark Era Over?
4 Reasons Behind Brock Lesnar’s Return In WWE SUMMERSLAM 2025