Tony Khan: AEW Forbidden Door build had ‘different cadence’ this year
With the show moving back a couple of months, the build to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 required a “different cadence” than usual.
Forbidden Door had been held in June every year since the pay-per-view was first introduced in 2022. But the event was moved to August this year with the AEW schedule being shaken up a bit. The band Coldplay had Wembley Stadium booked at the time AEW All In usually happens, so that PPV was moved up to July and was held in Texas. Forbidden Door is now happening at The O2 in London this Sunday on what had traditionally been All In weekend.
The shake-up impacted the build to Forbidden Door, with most of NJPW’s top stars competing in the G1 Climax and unable to appear on AEW television. Despite that, Tony Khan feels the build still worked well, pointing to AEW Dynamite being number one on cable in the 18-49 demo last Wednesday.
“We’re going to have one of the biggest days in the history of the company with Forbidden Door, which is also going to be one of our biggest gates ever. But with the G1 Climax happening this time of year, it’s different cadence than the other Forbidden Doors,” Khan said.
“It’s always something fun working with Gedo. It’s a very different presentation using American television to build pay-per-views. It’s a different rhythm and cadence to what’s typically done in Japan and what New Japan does to present a show.
“And for us, this year, with a little bit less availability of a lot of those stars, we’ve still been able to work in great representation from top stars in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as we’re going to talk about on the card. Big matches involving top stars in New Japan and big stakes in AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. But also, a lot of their stars tied up in the G1 Climax, which we’re very excited about.”
Khan said he was excited to watch Konosuke Takeshita’s G1 matches. The AEW star was crowned the winner of the tournament last weekend, securing a future IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot.
Zack Sabre Jr. is the current IWGP World Champion and will be defending the belt against Nigel McGuinness at Forbidden Door. NJPW wrestlers Hiroshi Tanahashi, Gabe Kidd, and Hiromu Takahashi are also set to compete on Sunday.
The Forbidden Door build will wrap up in Glasgow tonight with a Dynamite episode and Collision taping.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.