It’s that time of year again as AEW’s cross-promotional showcase “Forbidden Door” closes out this triple header wrestling weekend.
Past Forbidden Doors have showcased some great dream match-type moments featuring some of the world’s best in an array of matches you’d never see otherwise. The 2026 edition features 11 matches with 5 championships on the line from both AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
After yesterday’s WWE Night of Champions our predictions tally now sits at 40-16 (40/56; 71%), that’s including forfeiting the half-point from being sort of right at the Rumble, but being royally off-base about the Oba Femi King of the Ring result. Anyway, let’s dive into Forbidden Door.
The Undercard
AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships – Divine Dominion (c) vs. Thunder Rosa and Olympia
I don’t know that the women’s tag team titles being almost religiously relegated to the pre-show hurts it outright, but at some point we need to start seeing the belts defended on the actual shows. This is another defence for Megan Bayne and Lena Kross where, although Rosa and Olympia are leaps and bounds ahead of Tay Melo and Anna Jay, they still have the air of “team thrown together.” At some point Divine Dominion and the titles as a whole need scenarios beyond defending against random teams, or teams that don’t have a lot of momentum behind them leading into the opportunity. Bayne and Kross are on a roll as champions, but if we’re expected to take them, the belts and the division seriously it has to evolve beyond these showcases. Rosa and Olympia are great, and this will probably be one of Divine Dominion’s best matches, but I don’t see anything other than another successful defence. Winners: Divine Dominion
TBS Championship Survivor Challenge Match – Maika vs. Skye Blue
Conventional wisdom tells me Maika has no chance of winning this. If Julia Hart had qualified I might think differently, but that is not the case and unless Maika is staying a bit before the 5-Star GP starts in Stardom then I don’t think it works for her schedule. Maika is one of only two women in these qualifiers to not call AEW their home (Persephone technically does, but she’s also on a dual contract with CMLL). Skye Blue is going to probably win this and move on, and I think even if she doesn’t win overall it’s a good move to position her there against the rest of the field she’d be up against… but as much as I like Blue, we stan Maika in these parts and I’m going to make a stupid pick for a match on a pre-show. We’re team Maika here, and I think she’d add more to the eventual match that will be held than Blue would. Winner: Maika
AEW World Tag Team Championships – Cope and Cage(c) vs. the Dogs
The tag team title match pitting Cope and Cage against David Finlay and Clark Connors is a bit of a puzzler in terms of why it’s happening. I’d wager it’s because of their recent connections to NJPW to that fanbase, but even then this is more of an AEW showcase than it is a Forbidden Door-type opportunity. This is definitely also not the only one of its kind. I completely expect Cope and Cage to retain here, especially with AEW Redemption set for next month in Montreal. Connors and Finlay have shown themselves to be pretty decent antagonists as a duo during this feud with a tiny modicum of funny bones to mimic Cope and Cage’s greatest hits to mock them. I think this is more of an opportunity to get the champions on a big card against two guys who have deep connections to NJPW. As a defence I’m not expecting a status quo shift. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a Bang Bang Gang appearance considering their running feud with their fellow ex-Bullet Club compatriots (mostly Juice and Ace Austin), and considering their own history, maybe now is finally the time for Jay White to also reemerge from his injuries to take out his old rival and screw them out of the championships. One can dream anyway, but Finlay is definitely owed a receipt. Winners: Adam Copeland and Christian Cage
The Young Bucks vs. El Sky Team (Mistico and Mascara Dorada) vs. Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi and Titan)
This is only the second real “Forbidden Door” match of the night, and one which I’d expect to be one of the more fun matches on the show considering who the participants are. Most of the wrestlers in this match are known for their up-tempo style of matches, and while Takagi nor the Bucks are luchadores they’ll certainly be able to hold their own. I’d assume the Bucks are winning here as they build toward another title opportunity. It just feels like an eventuality that they’ll get another shot while Cope and Cage are champions. Sky Team and Unbound shouldn’t be counted out, but I just have a hard time betting against the Jacksons here. Them winning when you look at how the rest of the year is probably going to play out makes the most sense. Winner: Young Bucks
AEW Continental Championship – Jon Moxley (c) vs. Bandido
This is an example where the concept of the “Forbidden Door” is getting long in the tooth in its current format. The match pitting Mox against Bandido — two AEW wrestlers — has the fresh paint of international flare, and it would be fair to say that considering Bandido’s history in Mexico. However, contracts are what they are and there’s nothing “forbidden” about this when you can see either man on the same show throughout the year. Where the triple threat featuring the Bucks, Sky Team and Unbound Co. will make up for its lack of build with match quality, this will be a by-the-numbers colouring book activity where Mox will do “Mox” things, dominate for a spell of time before he just sells continually and effectively for Bandido toward the end. By that point I think we just end up with the status quo with a Mox retention. A little more than two weeks ago the Death Riders and Moxley specifically were feuding with Shane Taylor Promotions, and now two weeks before Forbidden Door we get two tag matches featuring combinations of the Death Riders against Brody King and Bandido. It will probably be fine in its own right, but a far cry from anything that will bust doors down as we’ve seen in the past. Winner: Jon Moxley (I feel like he’s carrying the title into the Continental Classic at this point)
IWGP Global Championship – Shota Umino (c) vs. PAC
I like this match because a) it rings back to the original point of these shows, and b) it actually has some story ingrained in it due to Umino’s backstory with Moxley. I also think this is one of the more important matches on the card because it’s a glimpse into what part of NJPW’s future looks like, and I think the more exposure “Shooter” gets the better for himself and NJPW as a whole. He’ll be able to hold his own against PAC, who I assume has the assignment of making Umino look fantastic. I think this is a showcase match and nothing more for Umino that doubles as a way to maintain some semblance of notoriety for the company in North America while also building himself up more in front of an audience that already knows him fairly well from his past with Moxley. I completely expect an Umino win here as the sole champion from NJPW on the card since IWGP champion Yota Tsuji won’t be there. I wouldn’t expect much else from this story for now though since the G1 is around the corner, unless another Death Rider enters the tournament or Umino doesn’t enter this year and sticks around AEW for a bit like Ishii has done in the past. Should be good overall. Winner: Shota Umino
AEW World Women’s Championship – Thekla (c) vs. Starlight Kid
So much of this build is focused on Thekla’s history with Stardom. Although they crossed paths during their shared time together in the promotion, I don’t feel like there’s enough history there for the match to stand on its own without the context of Thekla leaving the promotion. Even still there’s enough there to make it worth watching. Thekla has proven herself as champion at this point, and if you’ve never seen Starlight Kid before she’s one of the best Stardom has to offer — among so many of the women over there who should be on these cards too — and will increase the overall quality of this match. Although they don’t have an extensive history together, at multiple points their factions were opposite each other and fought over a handful of Stardom titles. Notably though they did have two singles matches that Starlight Kid won. I’d expect that streak to end here though, especially with All In coming up. If you’ve been middling on Thekla, you probably won’t see much to change your mind, but Starlight Kid is the attraction here and will make this match everything it will be even in defeat. Thekla will live to thrive and terrorize poor Taro Okada for another day. Winner: TheklaÂ
The Main Attractions
Women’s Owen Hart Cup Final – Mercedes Mone vs. Maya World
Well, I guess I was wrong about this one. Let me get this straight though. Tony Khan booked a tournament to feature two people who weren’t even originally supposed to be in the tournament in the finale of the showcase to vie for a shot at the top women’s title in the company at the biggest show of the year? Did I miss anything?
So was the original plan Willow and Sareee? Mone and Sareee? I’m just not sure how we ended up here, but I think this is a case where you needed to call the audible and switch up plans. Maya World is great but is still finding her traction in AEW. Could she win? Maybe? But then what’s the point of Mone coming back — beltless — and claiming she’s returned for what’s hers, only to lose and fall back into her downward spiral? That’s what makes this a predictable outcome and is exactly what I was arguing against. There is an angle to play up in the match where Maya is an upstart youngster who’s made a solid run in the tournament and is a definitive underdog against the more seasoned Mone, but because we’re talking about a shot at the AEW women’s title at All In, the ending is a formality. I don’t see them putting Maya against Thekla at All In, but hey, I didn’t think they’d do this final. What do I know? Winner: Mercedes Mone
Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Look at these two, probably having match of the night over here. They have met twice before in singles action in NJPW, both of which Omega won. I will say that of the matches that are actually featuring AEW vs. NJPW/Stardom talents, this not only has the richer history, but also they’ve done a good job building the encounter up in the short amount of time they’ve had to do so. If you know these two you know what we’re getting. They are diametrically opposite in how they approach wrestling, but they also complement each other well, which is why this works. You’re going to see fits of speed and high-impact action, offset by valleys where ZSJ grounds Omega and twists him into a pretzel three times over and back again for fun. This is simply a can’t miss match, and unless something catastrophic happens, it’s one of those matches that simply can’t be bad. I’d expect Omega to win here, but win or lose I don’t think this has bearing on what happens between the combination of Omega, Swerve, Ospreay and MJF heading into All In. There is that pesky rumour of an Ospreay-Omega match, but I think the expected needs to happen in the next match, and I think the outcome of the steel cage dictates All In depending on what MJF is doing at the Montreal card in July. As for this match? Winner: Kenny Omega
Men’s Owen Hart Cup Final – Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland
Much like Omega and ZSJ, these two have done a good job building the match up, and it helps that they have a very recent set of encounters and interactions in 2025 to call back to. With an AEW title shot on the line and so many variables in play over the last three matches in this lineup, any combination can work realistically with MJF as champion coming out of this show. However I think it’s easier to make the call for Ospreay here because of the proximity to All In. Ospreay main eventing the show for the AEW title — regardless of who holds it — is the most logical option. Swerve can work with either Omega or MJF, but I think there’s an intangible quality to going with Ospreay in this spot and putting him in that position win or lose when the lights are on. I think no matter the outcome here, who carries the AEW championship into Wembley is dictated (probably) by the next match since a future title shot is on line. As for the Owen… this suffers from the same problems I have with the women’s final in that it’s fairly predictable. Therefore… Winner: Will Ospreay
12-Man Steel Cage Match – Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, Darby Allin, Roderick Strong, Konosuke Takeshita and Orange Cassidy vs. MJF and the Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher, Andrade, Kevin Knight, Jake Doyle and Kazuchika Okada)
The same thing applies here as it did yesterday with the Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins match at Night of Champions. Why are we doing this cage match, and will this blow off the feud between MJF and Mark Briscoe? That’s the fundamental question of this match, essentially asking what the objective is. The result may very well be the end of Briscoe and MJF’s feud, but on the surface that’s an unknowable and the match itself appears to be a circus of a cage match with TWELVE people in it. Let’s concede the cage door opens at some point and that the action will spill outside. Fine. That’s still a lot of people to keep focus on, and I think whether all 12 stay in the ring, or a fraction leave, the match itself is going to be unfocused. It’ll have beats it hits, sure, but the crux of the story and build has been Briscoe and MJF, and the latter’s association with the Don Callis family. There are other intersecting beats, like Allin and Knight, Takeshita and Okada/Fletcher, and the tension between Andrade and MJF, but right now to me it’s unclear what the direction is going to be.
The one thing that does matter is the ending. With a title shot on the line for Briscoe should his team win, the outcome determines who the next challenger for MJF will be. And that dictates how the All In main event shapes. If the expected occurs and Ospreay wins, that locks him in. But let’s say Briscoe wins, and then they match up at the next PPV in Montreal. Briscoe loses, and that locks MJF in. But let’s say MJF wins, what then? Do we see Omega get another shot? Then depending on that ending we get either Ospreay versus MJF or Omega. Or let’s say Briscoe wins and they do a TV defence of the title, that still opens up the pathway to another contender at Redemption in Montreal. If not just Omega, do we maybe see Andrade in the mix as well for a triple threat? Regardless, even if this isn’t a true “Forbidden Door” match, the match has implications for the next few months and that’s why it’s worth paying attention to. I honestly think we’re angling toward an Omega-MJF rematch, no matter what happens here. And the outcome of that has Ospreay waiting for them. That all being laid out, I think they go the less convoluted route and have Omega declare himself (perhaps Andrade too for that 3-way scenario) and let them build it for a month, which coincidentally also lets MJF heal his knee a little bit too. Winner: MJF and the Don Callis Family
