Big promises, a packed building, and a crossover card built to pop a London crowd—Tony Khan didn’t shy away from any of it. The AEW president went on the AEW Unrestricted podcast and called the latest edition of the AEW Forbidden Door pay-per-view “one of the greatest shows in our history,” then walked into The O2 with a lineup that reads like a wish list for fans who love AEW, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and big-fight theater.
What Khan promised—and what London got
Khan started by framing the night as a supercard with real stakes. He pointed to three championship clashes at the top of the bill—AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page vs. MJF, AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm vs. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. longtime British favorite Nigel McGuinness. On paper, it’s the kind of cross-promotion and dream-booking Forbidden Door was built to deliver: AEW, ROH, and NJPW names sharing a spotlight on one stage.
That alone would sell a building like The O2, but the card went heavier. Khan singled out a Lights Out Steel Cage Match stacked with star power and history. On one side: Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Darby Allin. On the other: The Death Riders’ Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli, plus The Young Bucks and Gabe Kidd. A Lights Out tag inside a cage carries one message—this is personal, it’s unsanctioned, and nobody expects it to be pretty.
For fans, the “Golden Lovers” reunion—Omega and Ibushi—adds a thread that stretches from Japan to the UK. Ospreay, one of England’s biggest exports in modern wrestling, brings the local energy. Tanahashi is the ace who still draws eyes every time his theme hits. On the opposite side, Moxley and Castagnoli tie back to years of violence, grudges, and run-ins with Omega and friends. The Young Bucks bring that twist: sometimes allies, sometimes rivals, always dangerous when a cage door slams shut.
Khan leaned into the emotion of that matchup. He framed it as payback, pride, and a little catharsis, the kind of bout where fans don’t just pick a side—they pick a memory, a favorite run, a moment they want to see reversed or relived. Lights Out matches in AEW carry a reputation for chaos. Add a cage and ten names with shared history and you’ve got the night’s powder keg.
The women’s division got its own spotlight. Khan said Alex Windsor would be the AEW representative against one of the most dominant women on the card, praising Windsor as someone who “delivered time after time.” London knows her work from the UK scene, where she built a reputation on sharply paced matches and heavy strikes. Dropping her into a Forbidden Door setting reads like a vote of confidence: big stage, big test, and a chance to force her way into bigger title conversations heading into the fall.
Part of Forbidden Door’s charm and headache is logistics. You’re juggling multiple companies, time zones, and tournament calendars. Khan spelled that out, saying this year’s date landing after NJPW’s G1 Climax changed who could travel and how the card came together. He also pointed to STARDOM’s calendar. Even with the squeeze, he highlighted two names fans circled right away: Hiromu Takahashi from NJPW and Bozilla from STARDOM. It wasn’t the full parade from every partner, but it was enough to remind fans why the concept works—fresh matchups, first-time pairings, and a lot of curiosity.
As for the title scene, Khan’s pitch was simple: put recognizable champions in big spots and let the matchups sell themselves. Page vs. MJF is the kind of main event that blends AEW’s past and present. Storm vs. Athena doubles as a champions’ clash across brands that could influence both divisions the minute the bell rings. And Sabre Jr. vs. McGuinness was billed as a dream for British fans who grew up on technical wrestling and wanted to see it packaged as a world title fight on home soil.
There’s also the London factor. Khan reminded everyone AEW shattered its company attendance mark at Wembley Stadium in 2023. Now it’s The O2’s turn—different venue, same appetite. The company positioned this stop as a bridge between Wembley’s big moment and an expanded UK footprint to close out the year.
- AEW World Championship: “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. MJF
- AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm vs. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness
- Lights Out Steel Cage Match: Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, The Young Bucks, Gabe Kidd
- Featured appearances from NJPW’s Hiromu Takahashi and STARDOM’s Bozilla
That’s a lot of familiar faces, but Forbidden Door lives and dies on freshness. Cross-brand cards either feel like one-offs or like the start of something. With the cage match carrying consequence and the title bouts mixing rosters, the show tried to nudge stories forward rather than just mash logos together.
The O2 record, the UK plan, and why AEW keeps betting on Britain
By show’s end, Khan had another headline: 18,992 fans, which he said set a new pro wrestling attendance record for The O2 Arena. No matter how you slice it, that’s a monster night for a building known more for concerts and boxing than wrestling. It gives AEW a second big UK tentpole in as many years and a data point that says this audience isn’t a one-time Wembley bounce.
Khan framed the number as a shared win for AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The whole pitch for Forbidden Door is partnership: put top names on one card, let styles clash, and give fans something they won’t see on weekly TV. Attendance like that tells both sides the concept still has gas, even with tricky calendars and travel.
It also sets up a busy December. Khan announced AEW Collision in Cardiff on December 13 and the company’s Manchester debut on December 17. The Continental Classic tournament is coming along for the ride, which should give those shows stakes beyond exhibition matches and rematches. UK fans won’t just get a tour—they’ll get a slice of AEW’s end-of-year storylines with points on the line.
Why London? It’s simple: demand. The O2’s reputation for sightlines and sound helps, but fans matter more. Pre-show, Khan said the building was nearly sold out with limited tickets left. That matches what we’ve seen from AEW’s UK push since last year—announce a big card, put a home-country star near the top, and watch the queue spike.
There’s also a brand story at play. AEW says Wembley 2023 set a world record for paid attendance at a wrestling event. Whether you parse that number differently or not, the signal was clear: the UK is a growth market. Following it up with a packed O2 is how you make that momentum stick. Announcing a December run makes it a plan instead of a victory lap.
For New Japan, getting Hiromu Takahashi in front of a London crowd keeps its juniors in the conversation at a time of year when the calendar is usually dominated by heavyweights and G1 fallout. For STARDOM, any presence on this card puts their athletes on a different radar. Even with scheduling headaches, these cameos give both promotions a route into UK arenas without mounting full tours on their own.
Back to the matches: the Lights Out cage served as the show’s emotional anchor. If you’ve followed Omega, Ibushi, Ospreay, Moxley, or the Bucks for any length of time, you know their rivalries blur companies and continents. That’s the leverage point. Forbidden Door works best when it taps into stories that already exist rather than inventing new ones for one night only. A cage is a blunt instrument for settling old business, and London crowds love a brawl with lineage.
The title fights offered a different flavor. Page vs. MJF comes with all the baggage of AEW’s main-event scene—ego, grudges, and a stubborn streak on both sides. Storm vs. Athena puts two champions with very different styles on a collision course, the kind of match where pacing and counters matter as much as big moves. Sabre Jr. vs. McGuinness, on the other hand, was pitched as technique, patience, and pressure. For local fans who grew up on British technical wrestling, that’s a hook all by itself.
Alex Windsor’s involvement hints at a broader play for AEW’s women’s roster in the UK. You don’t put a known UK standout in a high-profile spot by accident. If she delivers, it boosts AEW’s depth and gives fans a reason to track her across weekly TV and the December tour. If the match goes big, it also raises the bar for future Forbidden Door cards to find similar home-territory moments for women’s wrestling.
All of this feeds the larger strategy: keep Forbidden Door feeling special. These shows can’t just be fan-service posters. They need stakes, records, and follow-up. The O2 attendance gives AEW a headline; the December dates give them the next chapter; and the cage match, plus the title slate, gives them highlights to cut into hype reels when the company points the caravan back to Britain at year’s end.
Khan’s confidence on the mic can read like promotion, but the building backed him up. A near-sellout became a record. A card built under a crowded calendar still delivered big names and first-time combinations. And a London crowd that’s proven it will show up did it again, loud enough to make the case for a UK swing that’s more than a one-off summer spectacle.