Forbidden Door (2026)

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 northern hemisphere summer and features direct competition between wrestlers from the two companies.^[1][2]

In 2026, AEW president Tony Khan confirmed that the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and NJPW's sister brand, the Japanese women's promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom would be involved in the event.^[3]

On April 15, 2026, it was revealed that the 2026 Forbidden Door would take place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Tickets for the event went on sale April 27.^[4] Forbidden Door will go head-to-head with The Great American Bash, a livestreaming event produced by WWE for its developmental brand, NXT and Slammiversary; however, Slammiversary moved to its earlier start time to avoid counter-programming. According to journalist Dave Meltzer, he stated that WWE's decision to once again try and counterprogram AEW questionable for a variety of reasons: with the main one being that WWE attempted this same tactic multiple times in 2025, as well as the odd occasion in the years prior to that, and it simply failed. WWE put both main roster and NXT shows against a number of AEW pay-per-view events in 2025, only for AEW's shows to not only perform better than expected, but for the WWE shows to underperform. ^[5]

Broadcast outlets

Forbidden Door will air via PPV through traditional cable and satellite providers.^[6] In the United States, AEW PPV events are available on HBO Max at an exclusive rate for subscribers. The event will also be available to livestream in the United States and internationally on Prime Video, PPV.com, and YouTube. Additionally in the United States, the show will be broadcast at Dave & Buster's and Tom's Watch Bar locations. Outside of the United States and Canada, the event will be available to stream on MyAEW.^[7]

Storylines

Forbidden Door will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines.^[8] Storylines are produced on AEW's weekly television programs, Dynamite and Collision.

Forbidden Door will feature the Owen Hart Cup, where the finalists of the men and women's bracket will compete in a match for a guaranteed AEW World Championship and AEW Women's World Championship title match respectively at AEW's flagship show, All In, on August 30.^[9] On the June 3, 2026, episode of Dynamite, Will Ospreay advanced to the finals of the men's tournament.^[10] The following week, Swerve Strickland also advanced to the finals of the men's tournament.^[11]

On the June 10 special episode of Dynamite: Summer BlockBuster, NJPW wrestler Zack Sabre Jr. challenged AEW wrestler Kenny Omega to a match at Forbidden Door during a video package, expressing that he has yet to defeat him in the United States, questioning if Omega is still "the best". Omega accepted the match.^[11][12]

Following MJF's AEW World Championship victory over Darby Allin at Double or Nothing on May 24, Mark Briscoe challenged MJF for the title on the May 27 episode of Dynamite, to which MJF refused due to Briscoe's appearance, but accepted a challenge by Rush.^[13] The following episode, MJF retained his title against Rush, but suffered a legitimate injury to his knee.^[14][15] On the June 10 special episode of Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster, Briscoe spoke to AEW owner and founder Tony Khan about an idea he had during his match against Pac. Following Briscoe's victory, MJF appeared, declined Briscoe's challenge, and ordered Lethal Twist to attack Briscoe, but was rescued by the Conglomeration. Following the altercation, Briscoe announced that Khan approved a match for Forbidden Door's main event, set to be a six-on-six steel cage match between MJF's team and Briscoe's team, where if Briscoe's team won, Briscoe will receive a guaranteed world title match.^[11][16]

Owen Hart Cup brackets