In 2026, the Forbidden Door concept just isn’t so forbidden anymore | Opinion
There once was a time in wrestling when crossovers just didn’t happen. I know…wild. In the big promotions, wrestlers wrestled where they were contracted and that was that, save for a few rare exceptions which blew my mind as a kid.
Now, it’s rare when inter-promotional matches don’t happen on a weekly basis. Even WWE is all about that goodwill which seemed impossible just a few years ago. Antitrust lawsuits and a thirst for dominance do that to a company, I guess.
That brings us to tonight’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, a concept born out of a phrase meant to point out how “forbidden” it was to do such a thing as work together. AEW has been a shining example of that, partnering with NJPW, CMLL, TNA, AAA, Stardom and even the NWA in its history.
Created in 2022, the inaugural PPV was catnip for wrestling fans and a massive success, drawing nearly 17,000 fans and an estimated 125,000 PPV buys. It marked a sea change in wrestling that this could happen and, well, it did happen.
Nearly every match on that show featured AEW vs. NJPW matches including Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Orange Cassidy vs. Will Ospreay, and Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole. It even seemed out of place when Thunder Rosa defended her then-Women’s World title against (gasp!) Toni Storm in a plain ol’ AEW match.
Four years later, and as of this writing, there are just three NJPW wrestlers on this Sunday’s card — Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi and Shota Umino — despite their home promotion being the primary partner. There’s one Stardom wrestler (Starlight Kid) and four CMLL wrestlers (Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Titan and Olympia). Five of the matches, including the headliner, are inter-AEW matches.
There’s nothing forbidden about this card. It’s just AEW Door.
So what happened? How did we get here? A few thoughts…
AEW signed a bunch of NJPW free agents
There’s a segment of NJPW fandom who feel Tony Khan ruined NJPW by signing several of their free agents, conveniently leaving out that unless Khan had their loved ones at gunpoint, they have free will and could sign anywhere they wanted to, including NJPW.
But bringing in the likes of Okada, Ospreay, White, Katsuyori Shibata, Gabe Kidd, David Finlay and Clark Connors through the last few years have taken a toll when it comes to building dream matches between the two companies, notably in the case of standouts like Okada and Ospreay. Even a rematch between Kenny Omega vs. Kidd from January 2025’s Wrestle Dynasty would feel like an AEW match now because of where they both get their checks.
Perhaps it’s just me reading too much into things, but I get the sense the relationship between AEW and NJPW has chilled a bit, perhaps due to the uncertainty of what the new ownership wants to do. It can be tough to parse what is shoot and work with some of the NJPW wrestlers taking digs at AEW, but Ospreay made some comments the other way recently and Khan, while complimentary of his Japanese partner, really made it a point to put over his CMLL relationship during this past Thursday’s media call.
Like Khan said on Thursday, it’s something to keep an eye on.
There’s too much cross-pollination in wrestling
Unless you’re in WWE and AEW and cross over to the other side, there’s not any real “forbidden” matches to make anymore. While the fluidness of talent sharing has been a positive for wrestlers and, at least for a while, for fans, it has taken away the allure of seeing that first time match between two top stars from separate groups. We’ve nearly seen them all at this point and most times on regular old TV.
This is also the case with CMLL. Khan noted on that media call that visa issues wreaked havoc with the card, but some of the names he mentioned (Hechicero, Komander, Beast Mortos) all are under dual contracts. Despite his status south of the border and being one of Khan’s favorite wrestlers ever, Mistico isn’t presented as a big deal in AEW and CMLL Women’s Champion Persephone’s first match back from injury (that she suffered in AEW) was in…AEW.
We’ll never get back to a time when the walls come back up around wrestling promotions, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing if it happened for a while — a sentiment that goes for all promotions.
AEW has to worry about the booking for multiple promotions
An issue in past years was the NJPW schedule which limited when talent could come over to build matches and also not give away their own results ahead of time in service of what was planned for Forbidden Door. Not only does Khan have to factor that in, but also CMLL, Stardom, and yes, his own company. It’s easier when you have to just focus on your own house and that’s what Sunday’s card feels like: an AEW show. I get it, but this lineup has hammered that home.
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At this point, I also have no idea how one would fix this issue other than the obvious move of putting the Forbidden Door name on ice for a few years and reviving it if and when it made sense for everyone involved.
That would also mean NJPW, Stardom, CMLL and AEW would have to be fully invested in making this a must-see show and in 2026, I feel like that time has passed. A lot has happened in wrestling the past four years and a lot more of the unexpected will happen in the years ahead.
The Forbidden Door concept was a strong one at one point, but as Marc Maron said when he announced his long-running podcast was coming to an end, “It’s okay to end things.” Unless everyone involved wants to make the spirit of Forbidden Door a thing again, it’s time to end it.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.