AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is LIVE tonight, June 28, from the SAP Center in San Jose at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on HBO Max PPV, with five championship matches plus both Owen Hart Foundation finals—each offering a path to an AEW World Championship match at All In: L
When Forbidden Door goes live at the SAP Center in San Jose tonight, it won’t just be another crossover show.
This is the fifth annual event—already a staple for fans who treat it like wrestling’s international fuse—but the 2026 edition arrives with stakes that feel heavier than usual. Forbidden Door has evolved from a co-promotional New Japan Pro-Wrestling partnership in 2022 into a full four-promotion super card: AEW. NJPW. CMLL. and STARDOM are all involved beginning with this year’s event. After bringing Forbidden Door to London for the first time last year. the show is back in North America this time. and it’s doing it with more championship pieces on the board.
The night includes five championship matches across the card. and for the first time in the show’s history. Forbidden Door will feature the finals of both the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament and the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament. The winners will earn World Championship matches in their respective divisions at AEW All In: London. held at Wembley Stadium on August 30.
The clock starts at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on HBO Max PPV tonight (with the Buy-In at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on HBO Max and AEW digital platforms).
A steel cage showdown is set to kick the night’s momentum into the AEW World Championship picture—even though the title itself isn’t on the line. In the 12-Man Steel Cage Match, Team DCMJF will collide with Team Briscoe.
Team DCMJF is stacked: AEW World Champion MJF and the Don Callis Family’s TNT Champion “The Jet” Kevin Knight. alongside Kyle Fletcher. Jake Doyle. Kazuchika Okada. and Andrade El Ídolo. Team Briscoe brings Mark Briscoe. AEW World Trios Champions The Conglomeration’s Orange Cassidy. Roderick Strong. and Kyle O’Reilly. plus AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita and Darby Allin.
Briscoe’s side is chasing a direct prize: if Team Briscoe wins, Mark Briscoe gets a guaranteed shot at the AEW World Title. MJF, meanwhile, decided to buy his team, taking a briefcase full of money to Don Callis and receiving access to the Don Callis Family.
Knight stepped in with an understanding that he’ll get an AEW World Title shot of his own. From there, the lineup builds its own grievances. Jake Doyle brings the power. Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher—both with AEW World Title and AEW International Title aspirations—bring an axe to grind with AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita. And Andrade El Ídolo isn’t exactly thrilled to be there. He keeps asking Callis when his AEW World Title shot is coming. and MJF’s tense partner situation is only worse after MJF mistakenly knocked out Andrade with the Dynamite Diamond Ring this past Wednesday.
Briscoe’s story is a scramble that turned into a strategy. He had help from his fellow Conglomerators. but when Okada and Fletcher took out Tomohiro Ishii. Briscoe found himself in need of more help. After Takeshita beat Okada at Double or Nothing to win the AEW International Championship. Fletcher lured Takeshita into a trap. embraced him. and then brutally turned on him. Takeshita then found new backup in The Conglomeration. and with the chance for revenge against Okada and Fletcher. he joined Team Briscoe.
Allin’s motivation is personal and political at the same time. He says he’ll do anything it takes to win because it’s Briscoe’s time. But his own injury and loss trail is still fresh—Knight’s vicious post-match attack at Double or Nothing came after Allin lost the AEW World Title to MJF.
It’s not a one-on-one match, but history still matters. Briscoe did beat MJF in a Tables N’ Tacks Match last year. and he continues to remind MJF that Max has never kicked out of the Jay Driller. On a night built to decide championship futures—and a tournament finale that promises another—this steel cage match is the one that may most clearly reshape what comes after.
The Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Final is Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland. These two weren’t even supposed to meet at first—the brackets placed them on opposite sides—but Ospreay reached the final by beating former two-time AEW World Champion Samoa Joe and AEW National Champion Mark Davis. Swerve booked his path by targeting ROH World Champion Bandido. winning in the quarterfinals. then taking down Brodido’s other half. Brody King. in the semifinals.
This is the second time Forbidden Door will put Ospreay and Strickland in the ring against each other. Two years ago, at Forbidden Door, Swerve beat Ospreay as the challenger for the AEW World Title. They didn’t battle again until last year’s Summer Blockbuster, where they went to a thirty-minute time limit draw. After that. they became the team that took EVP power away from the Young Bucks by defeating them at AEW All In: Texas.
On Dynamite, their face-off made it clear the friendship is gone. Swerve beat Daniel Garcia this past week and tried to inflict further damage. only for Ospreay to save a man he’s seemingly grown closer to during his time training with the Death Riders. Then Garcia ate a Vertebreaker meant for Ospreay. On Collision. Jon Moxley made it clear that Ospreay had to take out Swerve. and Ospreay said he had no worries about pulling the trigger to send himself into the main event of All In: London.
For Ospreay, this final is a dream with a map attached—becoming the first British wrestler to win a world championship in his home country at All In: London. For Swerve, it’s redemption after a title loss two years ago in Wembley Stadium and a quest for power.
The Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Final is Mercedes Moné vs. Maya World. When the tournament brackets were announced, neither Moné nor World was listed. Moné entered as the Wild Card and defeated Alex Windsor and Hazuki to get back to the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Finals for the second straight year. World’s path came through a last-minute replacement: she replaced the injured Sareee during a very emotional week following the sudden. tragic passing of her brother.
World upset Skye Blue, then—on Collision last week—beat her mentor and trainer, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, in what’s described as arguably the biggest upset in Owen Cup history. But that victory didn’t last. A hug from Moné turned into a two-on-one attack that left World in a beaten heap.
Moné’s momentum hasn’t faded. Five months away from AEW didn’t slow her down. and her matches against Windsor—and especially Hazuki—have been framed as among the great matches in Dynamite history. She’s dead-set on becoming the first two-time and back-to-back winner of the Owen Cup and insists she’ll do anything to defend the only title she has left.
World, for her part, fully embraces how Moné has inspired her. She had to beat her mentor in the biggest match of her life, and she’s now stepping into the next biggest match of her life in San Jose tonight—needing to beat her hero to complete an incredible run.
If that tournament double-header is the hinge, the title matches are the engine.
In the AEW Women’s World Championship Match, “The Toxic Spider” Thekla (c) of Triangle of Madness faces Starlight Kid. Thekla recently declared death to STARDOM to begin this road to Forbidden Door. STARDOM President Taro Okada fired Thekla in April 2025 after she attacked him. and a month later Thekla made her AEW debut. Within less than a year. she became AEW Women’s World Champion and leads the dominant and dangerous Triangle of Madness.
But hatred has surfaced again. Thekla has taken the first shot by declaring war ahead of Forbidden Door, telling STARDOM to send her an opponent for her AEW Women’s World Championship. STARDOM answered with Starlight Kid, who arrives with a track record: she’s 2-0 against Thekla.
Thekla’s actions in Japan last weekend added fuel. After she attacked Okada, it was Starlight Kid who ran her off. Now Starlight Kid has a chance to defend STARDOM and give Thekla the ultimate loss on the biggest international stage.
The AEW Continental Championship Match pairs Jon Moxley (c) of the Death Riders against ROH World Champion Bandido. This challenge began after Brodido beat Daniel Garcia and Moxley on Dynamite 11 days ago. when Bandido called out Moxley for a shot at the AEW Continental Championship at Forbidden Door—one that Moxley accepted immediately.
The Death Riders struck back on Wednesday on Dynamite. beating Brodido and Místico after Claudio Castagnoli knocked out Brody King with the AEW Continental Title. Now Bandido is coming in with urgency and hunger. In San Jose. he’s expected to hear what fans think of him. but at Forbidden Door tonight. the match positions Bandido’s agenda around making Moxley the most wanted.
Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. is built on history and timing. Last year at Forbidden Door. ZSJ earned a statement win over Nigel McGuinness in defense of his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. This year. he wanted to face Omega—a man he hasn’t faced in over eight years. and a man he has never faced in the United States. ZSJ declared himself the best technical wrestler in the world while questioning whether Omega is still the best.
Omega’s frame is redemption. He’s treating the match as part of his way back to the AEW World Championship. For Sabre Jr., it’s an elusive victory he’s been looking for since they first met in 2008, with a chance to crack the foundation of Omega’s World Championship stepping stone.
Shota Umino (c) vs. PAC of the Death Riders delivers another championship with motive. The question hanging over Forbidden Door is whether PAC sensed vulnerability after Umino won the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship for the first time in Japan at NJPW Dominion 6.14. The timing is tied to violence too: Gabe Kidd delivered a vicious attack on Umino right after he won the title.
Umino didn’t back down and accepted PAC’s challenge to fight for his honor and the title at Forbidden Door. The “elephant in the room” is Umino’s past association with Moxley in NJPW. PAC is a Death Rider; Umino is not—so this is positioned as a matchup that PAC can’t allow to be anything less than decisive.
For AEW’s tag scene. Adam Copeland & Christian Cage (c) take on The Dogs—David Finlay and “100 Proof” Clark Connors—in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Match. Copeland and Cage survived the violent street fight “I Quit” match at Double or Nothing to beat FTR and win the AEW World Tag Team Championship. But the Dogs attacked Cage and Cope just days later to ruin their championship celebration and 5-second pose.
Since then, Connors and Finlay have scoffed at the idea that experience is needed to get to the top. They want the AEW World Tag Team Titles. They first beat former champions. the Gunns. then followed with a win over the three-time champions. the Young Bucks. to make sure there was no doubt who the #1 contenders should be.
They’ve been brawling with Cage and Cope for weeks, but after nearly choking out the champs on Dynamite, the question becomes simple: are Finlay and Connors the ruthless duo to bring a premature end to a reign described as awesomeness?
There’s also a 3-Way Tag Team Non-Title Match featuring ROH World Tag Team Champions Sky Team and CMLL Trios Champions (Máscara Dorada and CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion & IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Místico) vs. Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi and Titán).
Sky Team arrives with a fresh trophy addition. Two-thirds of the CMLL Trios Champions. they added ROH World Tag Team Championship to their trophy case by beating Sammy Guevara and The Beast Mortos at Arena México in CMLL on Friday night. Tonight, they’ll face the Young Bucks and Unbound Co. from NJPW and CMLL.
The Bucks still have their eyes on AEW World Tag Team Titles, and tonight they could earn a victory that strengthens their case. That path runs through two obstacles: an old rival in Takagi and one of the most awe-inspiring tag teams in the world in El Sky Team.
The Buy-In opens with the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship Match: Divine Dominion (“Megasus” Megan Bayne and “Colossal” Lena Kross) (c) vs. Thunder Rosa & Olympia. Divine Dominion issued an open challenge, and Thunder Rosa answered. She’ll bring CMLL’s Olympia to San Jose, and the story is set as a matchup without intimidation.
Bayne and Rosa have history from Bayne’s earliest AEW matches in 2021, and Bayne and Kross have been begging for a team to give them a fight for their lives. Thunder Rosa and Olympia won’t let the invitation wait.
The Buy-In also features the TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Skye Blue of Triangle of Madness vs. Maika. With just one slot remaining in the TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest this Wednesday on Dynamite. tonight decides who joins Hikaru Shida. Kris Statlander. CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone. Harley Cameron. and Queen Aminata in the field of six.
Blue has been knocking on championship gold for quite some time, and now she takes Triangle of Madness’ war against STARDOM outside of Starlight Kid. Thekla factor remains part of the story too: it was Maika who handed Thekla one of her last losses before President Taro Okada fired her.
If Blue can strike first tonight, it sets her up for coveted championship gold.
All of it lands in the same night, under the same banner, in the same building. The sequence is clear from match to match: Forbidden Door isn’t merely mixing brands—it’s stacking paths. Owen Hart tournament finals send winners to Wembley Stadium on August 30. The steel cage match turns the AEW World Title picture into something even more volatile without needing the title to be defended. And the international title threats move at the speed of grudges, alliances, and who can survive the night.
Forbidden Door is available to order on HBO Max in the United States. The Buy-In starts at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on HBO Max and AEW digital platforms and runs for one hour before Forbidden Door begins. Double or Nothing is also available on Amazon Prime, MyAEW, and YouTube (Buy-In only), and other streaming and pay-per-view platforms.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Forbidden Door 2026 HBO Max PPV SAP Center San Jose Owen Hart Foundation finals MJF Mark Briscoe Will Ospreay Swerve Strickland Mercedes Moné Maya World Thekla Starlight Kid Jon Moxley Bandido Kenny Omega Zack Sabre Jr. Shota Umino PAC