This was the first Forbidden Door held outside North America and the first to take place in August, after the first three events which took place in June. Forbidden Door featured wrestlers from NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, Mexican partner promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and British partner promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro). The event broke the attendance record for a professional wrestling event at the O2 Arena, with an announced attendance of 18,992.
In August 2024, advertisements outside Wembley Stadium in London, England were shown days before AEW's All In event, which was held at the venue on August 25, advertising that the 2025 Forbidden Door would emanate from London.[7] During All In's Zero Hourpre-show, the 2025 Forbidden Door was confirmed to be held in London on August 24, 2025.[7] This marked the first Forbidden Door event held outside of North America, and AEW's fifth event overall outside the continent. This also marked the first Forbidden Door held in August, as the prior three events were held in June, and in turn would be held during the United Kingdom's August Bank Holiday weekend, which was previously occupied by AEW's All In the prior two years.[8][7] On April 15, 2025, the venue was confirmed as The O2 Arena with tickets going on sale on May 2.[9] In addition, it was announced that a double taping of Dynamite and Collision would take place at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on August 20.
Immediately following the August 23 episode of Collision, TNT and HBO MaxsimulcastCountdown to Forbidden Door, a special preview of the event. On August 24, the pay-per-view aired at a special start time of 6:00 p.m. British Summer Time (1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), preceded by the Zero Hour pre-show at 4:30 p.m. BST (11:30 a.m. EDT). Forbidden Door was available on Prime Video in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It was also offered via traditional cable and satellite providers, as well as PPV.com and YouTube in the United States and Canada. Select international markets could access it through PPV.com, Triller TV, and YouTube. In Australia, the event aired on Main Event.[10] The event was also shown at all Dave & Buster's and Tom’s Watch Bar locations across the United States.[11]
Forbidden Door featured 13 professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines.[12] Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs, Dynamite and Collision, as well as NJPW, Stardom, and CMLL events.
On May 31, it was announced that Hiroshi Tanahashi would wrestle at the event, in what would be his final match in the United Kingdom.[13] On the August 13 episode of Dynamite, Jon Moxley and his Death Riders stablemates (Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Marina Shafir) attacked Moxley's opponent after his match, resulting in Darby Allin (the Death Riders' nemesis who had been feuding with the stable since the 2024 WrestleDream) making the save. Allin would be outnumbered before a returning Will Ospreay, who had his own issues with the Death Riders saved him. Ospreay would subsequently issue a challenge for a Lights OutSteel Cage match at Forbidden Door between the Death Riders' team and his team. Later in the show, it was revealed that Tanahashi was added to Ospreay's team. As a result of Tanahashi's inclusion, Moxley would add The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), associates of the Death Riders, to his team. The full lineups would later be revealed, with it being Moxley, Castagnoli, The Young Bucks, and Gabe Kidd, another associate of the Death Riders, against Allin, Ospreay, Tanahashi, and Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi, and Kenny Omega), with Omega having his own issues with both the Death Riders and The Young Bucks.
At All In: Texas, Swerve Strickland teamed with Will Ospreay and defeated The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson). As a result of the loss, The Young Bucks were stripped of their Executive Vice President titles. Also at All In: Texas, Kazuchika Okada defeated Kenny Omega to win the inaugural AEW Unified Championship. On the July 16 episode of Dynamite, Okada, who was a member of The Elite with The Young Bucks, called out Strickland for causing his stablemates' downfall. On the July 31 episode of Collision, Strickland challenged Okada to a title match at Forbidden Door, which Okada accepted.
On the August 9 episode of Collision, Kyle Fletcher defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain the AEW TNT Championship. After the match, Fletcher challenged New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) to send their best to face him at Forbidden Door.[21] On the August 13 episode of Dynamite, NJPW's Hiromu Takahashi made a surprise appearance as the mystery partner for Ishii's team in an eight-man tag team match against Fletcher's team. Takahashi pinned Fletcher's Don Callis Family stablemate Josh Alexander, leading to the official announcement of a title match between Fletcher and Takahashi at Forbidden Door.
At Revolution in March, "Hangman" Adam Page defeated MJF. At All In: Texas, Page won the AEW World Championship, while MJF won the men's Casino Gauntlet match to earn a contract for an AEW World Championship match at any time. On the August 13 episode of Dynamite, Page goaded MJF into executing his championship match for Forbidden Door, and the title match between Page and MJF was made official. On the August 20 episode of Dynamite, MJF, along with Ricochet and Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) kidnapped Mark Briscoe. MJF threatened Page that he would burn Briscoe unless their match stipulated that the title can change hands via countout or disqualification and that MJF's Casino Gauntlet contract would not be used. Page agreed to the stipulations for their match.
After The Patriarchy (Christian Cage and Nick Wayne) lost their AEW World Tag Team Championship match at All In: Texas, Nick turned on Cage, the team leader and his "father", and hit him with the Killswitch. He was then joined by stablemates Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne in the post-match beatdown. With help from FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood), they set up Cage for a con-chair-to, but just as Nick was about to hit him, Adam Copeland made a surprise return and rescued his longtime friend-turned-tag team partner-turned-enemy, Cage. After clearing the ring, Copeland told Cage to "go find yourself". Copeland would begin a feud with FTR, who turned on him at Dynasty after they lost their AEW World Trios Championship match. On the August 13 episode of Dynamite, Copeland made his in-ring return facing FTR's manager Stokely, with the stipulation that if FTR interfered in the match, their restraining order against Copeland would be lifted. Copeland won by disqualification after Stokely threw powder in Copeland's face. As FTR and Stokely began a post-match assault soon to be joined by Sabian and Nick, Cage ran down and saved Copeland from the assault before embracing in the ring. Later in the show, it was announced that Copeland and Cage would be teaming up for the first time since 2011 to face Sabian and Nick at Forbidden Door. On the August 20 episode of Dynamite, Nick revealed that he would not be able to compete due to a broken foot. He would be replaced by Killswitch, who made a surprise return after being sidelined since 2024 due to pneumonia in both lungs.
Aftermath
In the media scrum after that show, AEW president Tony Khan announced that any future matches guaranteed by the Casino Gauntlet contract would require a one week of advance notice.[22]
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