Forbidden Door 2025 is in the books. It was a good show, with a good crowd, and it was consistent. However, I don’t believe it lived up to its full potential, so I figured I’d try my luck at re-booking the show. There will be some pretty drastic changes.
The first large change is that we’re going for two nights. This may be surprising as one could argue that New Japan doesn’t have the talent pool to justify two nights of action, however, when re-booking this card, I actually struggled to create a one-night card due to all of the matches that I wanted to do. Two nights will prevent a bloated card, as has been the issue with many AEW PPVs before, allowing every match to breathe.
NIGHT ONE
1st Match – Yuya Uemura vs Kyle Fletcher (c) for the AEW TNT Championship
Kyle Fletcher (c) def. Yuya Uemura (16 minutes)
Starting the weekend strong with a bout that is all about the Forbidden Door concept, with one of New Japan’s prodigal sons going up against AEW’s prodigal son. Uemura is a great babyface and Fletcher is a great heel, and both have impressed due to how far they have come so early in their careers.
I was considering going for a dirty finish to protect Uemura, but since he is fresh off a G1 campaign (I’d have him advance to the semis or maybe even finals if I was to re-book the G1), taking a loss doesn’t really impact him that much as he took (clean) losses in the G1, and of course, as is the case with every Young Lion future main eventer, they must learn to not crumble under pressure in big matches, something Uemura will have to work on. However, it’s a great showing and turns many eyes towards who many consider to be the best of the Reiwa Generation.
Banger title match to open Night One.
2nd Match – BroDido (Bandido and Brody King) vs Tomohiro Ishii and Taichi (c) for the IWGP Tag Team Championships
Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii (c) def. BroDido (14 minutes)
Taichi and Ishii is a pairing that has no right to work as well as it does. They are a really fun tag team to watch, and two great individual wrestlers. Ishii will always be adored by foreign crowds, so to me it was important to get him on the card.
Stylistically, these two teams would have great chemistry, with Ishii and King duelling off as the hosses, with Bandido and Taichi contributing tempo and dynamicism to the action. I don’t mind BroDido taking the loss as they are quite a new team, I’d much rather they were built up a little bit more before winning tag gold.
3rd Match – Winner Takes All – Luke Jacobs (PROGRESS World) def. Ricky Knight Jr (RevPro British Heavyweight)
Luke Jacobs (c) def. Ricky Knight Jr (c) (18 minutes)
A match with huge ramifications in the British scene, that also serves as a showcase match for the British wrestling territory. Both of these men are very young, so it is exposure for them, and they also compete in both promotions so it does make sense. Jacobs did hold both the PROGRESS and RevPro titles at one point, however dropped the RevPro belt to Michael Oku who then dropped it to Ricky Knight Jr.
In this fantasy booking, the RevPro Anniversary show is going to be a singular night and it is going to be on the Friday at Crystal Palace. There, Michael Oku and Ricky Knight Jr will compete in a Ladder Match as a blowoff for their feud, with the winner competing with Luke Jacobs in a Winner Takes All Match for the PROGRESS World and RevPro British Heavyweight Championships at Forbidden Door. RKJ retains on the Friday night, however loses to Luke Jacobs here.
I speak with 100 percent confidence when I say Luke Jacobs is the best independent wrestler in the world. This match would be great exposure for the independent British wrestling scene in the UK’s largest arena, Jacobs walks away with the two top promotions’ top championships.
4th Match – Alex Windsor (RevPro) vs Persephone (CMLL) vs AZM (STARDOM) vs Mercedes Mone (AEW) for the AEW TBS Championship
Mercedes Mone (c) def. Persephone vs AZM vs Alex Windsor (12 minutes)
A match that truly encapsulates the Forbidden Door concept and showcases the breadth of talent across the womens’ divisions across the world. In this match, we have four promotions represented, each representing one of the four top wrestling territories in the world, with RevPro/Britain, AEW/USA, CMLL/Mexico and STARDOM/Japan.
Of course, Alex Windsor is now an AEW talent, but in this re-booking we’re holding off on her officially being signed as an AEW talent until after this match, where TK offers her a contract backstage.
Mone retains, doesn’t need to be anything extravagant, just a showcase for each of these women.
5th Match – Dog Pound Steel Cage – Swerve Strickland, Darby Allin, Shota Umino and The Opps (Samoa Joe and Powerhouse Hobbs) vs Death Riders (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) and Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors)
The Faces def. The Heels (28 minutes)
I like the Dog Pound being tied to, you know, the Bullet Club War Dogs.
This match is actually all about Shota Umino. He’s the bond which ties all of the stories together.
On the side of the heels, a dynamic is played out of the difference between Moxley’s Death Riders and Finlay’s War Dogs. Though both merchants of chaos, they have different approaches and philosophies. Finlay and Moxley were involved in a triple threat against each other a year and a half ago in the Tokyo Dome, and the animosity is still looming, however, they agree to a contract of violence against our team of heroes, led by Swerve.
Shota is defiant to Moxley’s command for Shota to join the Death Riders. Moxley is insistent that Shota ‘will come around’, but Finlay states that Shota has too much good in him, he is too indebted to the fans, that he will never embrace the Death Riders.
The Dog Pound Cage Match ensues, with all of the brutal spots and crazy shit you would expect, and in the ending of this match, while David Finlay is handcuffed to the turnbuckle, Shota Umino teases turning heel on Swerve/the faces, but doesn’t do so, instead refusing Moxley’s final invitation to the Death Riders and brutalizing Moxley while Finlay watches, with Finlay maniacally chuckling while Shota lashes out years of anger onto Moxley.
This is the first sign of Shota Umino’s heel turn. In a way, in the end, it will prove that Moxley was right.
And when Gabe leaves, and Finlay’s control of Bullet Club fades,
Shota is next in line.
6th Match – Adam Copeland vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Adam Copeland (19 minutes)
FEAR NOT THIS ISN’T TANAHASHI’S ONLY MATCH THIS WEEKEND.
As it’s Tanahashi’s final ever matches outside of Japan, he is going balls to the wall and competing in two singles matches over the weekend, with the first being a dream match with Adam Copeland.
I think they pulled the trigger on putting Cope and Christian back together too early. In my opinion, it should’ve been a little bit more of a slow burn.
Uemura was sacrificed to a clean loss so we could have an overbooked finish here. FTR interfere in the match in its late stages, attempting to sabotage the match. They do lasting damage to Copelands’ knee, and while Tanahashi and Copeland team up to get rid of FTR, when Cope goes for a Spear, his knee gives in, leading Tana to hit the Slingblade and High Fly Flow for the win.
After the match, FTR, having fought off security, come back into the ring and attack both men. Christian Cage comes out, and saves Cope, the reverse of what happened at All In. The Matriarchy come down the ramp to attack Cage and Cope, however, Tanahashi stands next to them, and the Matriarchy retreat.
Tanahashi leaves the ring, encouraging Cope and Christian to embrace. We get a few moments of contemplation, before the two hug it out to an enormous pop.
7th Match – Kenny Omega vs Gabe Kidd (c) for the IWGP Global Championship
Gabe Kidd (c) def. Kenny Omega (35 minutes)
Perhaps not as organic of a build as the sequel should be for this match, for a plethora of reasons including injuries to Kidd sustained during the G1, Omega working a part time schedule, and the whole thing of Gabe heading towards the TK money instead of staying loyal to New Japan which was basically the point of the whole storyline.
However, the personal beef between these two men and the events of the first match is a natural basis for this bout to take place – both men state that they fought through their injuries in July 2025 just so they could make this show and face each other, with Kenny Omega stating that once he beats Gabe Kidd again, he will prove to the world why Gabe Kidd doesn’t even deserve a contract offering from Tony Khan in 2026. Gabe rejects the rumours of him going to AEW, and puts his Global Championship on the line to prove his devotion to New Japan.
The difference in this match compared to the first one is that Gabe doesn’t care about ‘representing New Japan’ here. In the first bout, he resorted to very fundamental moves in Japanese wrestling in an effort to make a point, not to neccessarily win the match. He knows that here, to win, he has to disregard his moral compass and all of the rules, since he is facing Kenny Omega. Therefore, he goes full cheating, entirely dirty, to get the win over Omega.
With how dirty the win is, it doesn’t even convey Kidd as the superior on the night. But, he can finally say that he beat Kenny Omega, and that’s all that matters for him.
Main Event – MJF vs ‘Hangman’ Adam Page (c) for the AEW World Championship
‘Hangman’ Adam Page (c) def. MJF (31 minutes)
Honestly, we’re going to keep this pretty much the same as the real match, I really enjoyed it and it was a great story-driven match that protected both men. It’s a worthy match to close out Night One, with a feel good ending of Hangman getting his first defence of the AEW World Championship, but the dust hasn’t entirely settled with MJF.
I actually did consider having MJF win the belt to ‘crash the party’ of Hangman’s second reign, however I went against it in the end.
NIGHT TWO
1st Match – ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey vs Michael Oku vs Kevin Knight vs El Desperado (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Michael Oku def. Kevin Knight vs ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey vs El Desperado (c) (14 minutes)
A super fast paced opener to Night Two with a shocking outcome. After Michael Oku loses the RevPro Anniversary Show Main Event on Friday night, it is announced during Night One of Forbidden Door that he will be added to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match to open Night Two.
With his hometown crowd cheering him on, the biggest upset of the weekend happens as he wins the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Oku is one of the best high flyers in the world right now, and it’s criminal that he hasn’t been in Best of Super Juniors yet. He can have a short reign, maybe drop it at Destruction or King of Pro Wrestling, or he could even hold it to the Tokyo Dome and become more of a well-known name in the New Japan setting. This is a declaration of intent though that Michael Oku is here to play in the New Japan Junior division.
2nd Match – Nigel McGuinness vs Katsuyori Shibata (c) for the ROH Pure Championship
You can give the win to either man here and it would make sense (12 minutes)
Two men who we thought we’d never see again in a wrestling ring, now facing off one-on-one. It’s pretty surreal. Because of the pure rules, and the technical style of both men, we can minimize the harsh bumps that they take which is beneficial, their limitations wouldn’t be shown. They could tell a great story in a short amount of time, and honestly you can give the win to either man, either give Nigel a nice little novelty run as Pure Champion or keep the belt on Shibata who can have a lot of enjoyable matches with it. It’s good to have a ROH belt defended at Forbidden Door, and it is especially good to have a surreal dream match like this on the card.
3rd Match – Ricochet vs Mistico
Mistico def. Ricochet (10 minutes)
Another cross-promotion Forbidden Door dream match, these two just have a crazy sprint, I needed a heel who could take a loss to Mistico as there’s no chance that he would lose, and figured Ricochet fits that role PERFECTLY, alongside the fact that it would be a fantastic match.
4th Match – Konosuke Takeshita Open Challenge – Konosuke Takeshita vs Luke Jacobs
Konosuke Takeshita def. Luke Jacobs (21 minutes)
Let me have my dream matches, okay? If you haven’t guessed already, I really like Luke Jacobs.
Mere days after winning the G1 Climax tournament, Konosuke Takeshita makes his entrance alongside Don Callis, who declares that Takeshita is hosting an open challenge for anybody to answer, and if that person can beat Konosuke Takeshita, then they will be entitled for a match to compete for Takeshita’s G1 Contract.
It is answered by Luke Jacobs, who 24 hours earlier in the same building beat Ricky Knight Jr to become the RevPro British Heavyweight Champion while defending his PROGRESS World Championship. It is a star-making weekend for him, as he clashes with Konosuke Takeshita. This would be a crazy match, and we’re gonna give it 20+ minutes so it can build to a proper climax to get the fans behind Jacobs. Takeshita wins, however it is a valiant effort from the Brit, who comes away from the weekend with tons of exposure and an eye on the NEVER Openweight Championship.
5th Match – Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji) vs FTR vs Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) (c) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships
FTR def. LIJ vs Hurt Syndicate (c) (15 minutes)
This match serves two purposes;
a) to get the tag titles on FTR while protecting the Hurt Business
b) to get Yota Tsuji on the card. I guess Shingo is liked in the UK too.
Shingo and Lashley can have some great hoss sequences – FTR are the heels, LIJ the faces and Hurt Business the tweeners. FTR get the win to become AEW Tag Champions yet again, and they are confronted by Cope and Christian after the match – Adam Copeland and Christian Cage vs FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championships is set for All Out Toronto.
6th Match – Syuri vs ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm (c) for the AEW Women’s World Championship
‘Timeless’ Toni Storm (c) def. Syuri (17 minutes)
Syuri debuts at All In: Texas, and immediately after, sets her sights on Timeless Toni Storm. Handing Syuri a loss as early as this in her AEW career feels counter-intuitive, but it can be a plucky babyface Storm win with a roll-up pin, and putting Syuri in the world championship scene immediately after debuting shows her value. Sure it would be a banger match.
7th Match – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada (c) for the AEW Unified Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (27 minutes)
That’s right. The final ever match Hiroshi Tanahashi competes in in Europe. The final ever Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada, only possible due to the cross-promotional nature of Forbidden Door. Tanahashi states that he wants to win an AEW championship before he retires. Not only that, he calls Okada a traitor to New Japan, the company he is now president of, and seeks revenge.
It’s a great way to build Okada and the Unified Championship, which is near enough as important as the AEW World Championship at this point, especially with Okada as the champion and this as the first PPV defence of the belt. The story doesn’t need to be explained, and these two always bring the best out of each other. Okada retains, and they embrace after the match.
I’d have Tana’s retirement match be Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura. I don’t care about putting young talent over, it’s Hiroshi Tanahashi, he’s put over enough talent in his life. Even then, there’s no one remotely worthy of saying they retired Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Main Event – Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Jr (c) for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Zack Sabre Jr (c) def. Will Ospreay (42 minutes)
I wish they had the balls to do this.
In 2020, Ospreay and Zack main evented York Hall.
In 2023, Ospreay and Zack main evented Copper Box Arena.
And in 2025, Ospreay and Zack main event the O2 Arena.
It’s a beautiful ode to British wrestling. After all, Ospreay and Zack are 1A and 1B of the greatest British professional wrestlers of all time and it isn’t particularly close.
Ospreay takes a clean loss, but he’s taking time off now anyway, so it doesn’t even matter, because when he returns, he essentially immediately wins the Owen, and then main events All In at Wembley Stadium and finally wins the AEW World Championship. And him losing to Zack here only adds to his story of winning the world title.
It all would’ve been perfect.
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