AEW Forbidden Door (Aug. 24, 2025) was headlined by the Lights Out steel cage match from The O2 Arena in London, England. Jim Ross summed up, “It’s a sad ending to an amazing main event.”
Squads were set with Will Ospreay, Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, & Kenny Omega on one side, and Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Gabe Kidd, & Young Bucks on the other side. Winner by pinfall or submission. I was wondering how AEW would squeeze all those bodies in the ring for a steel cage match of epic proportions. The answer was a smart one. AEW arranged the cage as a wider perimeter to leave plenty of space on the floor. That cage setup allowed the moments to breathe without feeling crowded. There was so much room for activities. Just look at all this space available for Claudio to throw Allin.
It wouldn’t be Lights Out without extreme carnage. Case in point was Moxley stabbing Allin’s ear with a fork. Did I mention that Allin was comically duct taped to the chair? Claudio added a badass bodyslam after the violence.
One of the questions coming into the cage match is who would leap off the top. Ospreay did the honors for a moonsault down onto the pile of bodies below.
Allin and Kidd had another wild spot crashing off the top of the cage through a stack of tables.
The flow of the match was non-stop action. Teamwork creativity was excellent, especially on the finish. Osprey and Omega combined for a Hidden Blade One Winged Angel to Matt Jackson. They passed off the pin for a High Fly Flow from Tanahashi to finish the job.
The show didn’t close there. This is where the sad ending came in. The celebration left Ospreay alone in the ring to share the moment with the UK crowd. Commentary expressed the vibe like neck surgery was coming very soon, so we wouldn’t be seeing Ospreay for a long time. Then, the Death Riders picked their spot to unleash hell on Ospreay. Moxley planted him with repeated Paradigm Shifts and stomped his neck with a chair. AEW did a stretcher job on Ospreay. Sadness intensified.
Lights Out was indeed awesome. The chaos meshed smoothly for the most part. Everyone had moments to shine. Applause for the toll taken on their bodies. Aside from the fork ripping Allin’s ear, this was a good level of violence for my taste. Nothing too over the top. Some might point negatively to the gummy bears as corny. I found it humorous, since it was connected to an earlier backstage scene in line with the non-EVP jokes on the Young Bucks. The finish was a great climax to combine the Hidden Blade with the One Winged Angel. That is something I never considered, so seeing it as a surprise is like magic. Giving the win to Ace was a nice touch as his career winds down.
The sad ending was indeed sad. Even if you don’t get emotionally connected to the story of Ospreay’s beatdown, it’s still sad to think about him getting neck surgery. This was obviously a way to write Ospreay off screen for a lengthy period of time. (Unless it wasn’t and kayfabing injuries are all the rage now.) For me, it was a gut punch from the high of victory to the low of injury. AEW definitely made the most of it to put huge heat on the Death Riders again.
Best of health to Ospreay.
Let’s run down the rest of the card from top to bottom. Get caught up on the Forbidden Door details with the excellent play-by-play from Claire Elizabeth. Hangman Page outfoxed MJF at his own game, Athena’s best effort couldn’t put Toni Storm down, Okada prevailed over Swerve Strickland, the Hurt Syndicate lost the tag titles, and more. Plus, Wardlow and Jamie Hayter made surprise returns.
AEW World Championship: Hangman Page (c) defeated MJF to retain the title. MJF’s special stipulations were in play after threatening to light Mark Briscoe on fire. The title can change hands on a disqualification. Hangman was tested when MJF handed over the Dynamite Diamond Ring and spit in the cowboy’s face. Hangman kept his composure and didn’t take the bait.
The title can change hands on a count-out. Earlier, Hangman spiked MJF with a deadeye piledriver off the apron through a table. The champ didn’t want to win that way, so he dragged MJF back into the ring.
Later, MJF returned the favor for a tombstone piledriver onto the broken table. Hangman barely beat the ten-count back into the ring.
After some tomfoolery and a ref bump, MJF delivered a low blow and the Heatseeker piledriver. Referee Bryce Remsburg groggily counted three. He didn’t notice Hangman’s foot on the ropes.
Briscoe stomped down trying to make sure there was no screwjob. Once the commotion settled down, MJF tired to hide the evidence. Remsburg caught the scoundrel, noted Hangman’s leg on the ropes, and restarted the match. More shenanigans from MJF trying to cheat caused the ref to get occupied with a foreign object. Hangman took advantage by cracking the contract clipboard over MJF’s head. Deadeye piledriver and a buckshot lariat earned the win for Hangman. This feud isn’t over though. The third stipulation is that MJF still has his contract to cash in. That will wait for another day.
The world title bout was enjoyable in a cheeky way. The wrestling in the first half was pretty darn good. The story in the match played well to demonstrate the differences in character between Hangman and MJF. For viewers invested in that aspect, the big spots paid off for satisfying comeuppance. In my opinion, the comedy at the end began to overshadow the action. I thought Remsburg’s involvement was a touch too much. He is already annoying as is when he acts righteous. Even though Remsburg was doing his job, the booking made him overstep bounds to affect the finish. This was a long match, and I don’t feel like anything was resolved. On top of that, Hangman cheated to win. And yes, we all cheered anyway. MJF was right that the fans are hypocrites that excuse the cowboy’s behavior. Given the DQ stipulation, MJF’s lawyer could probably find a storyline reason to get another free title shot and still keep his contract.
AEW Women’s World Championship: Toni Storm (c) defeated Athena to retain the title. Timeless wasted no time in taking out Billie Starkz as a threat. Storm hit a piledriver on the floor in the first minute. Athena controlled much of the match with suplexes and slams targeting the neck. The Fallen Goddess executed a dope suplex into a Koji Clutch variation.
Storm persevered to rally. She plotted a piledriver on the apron, and that’s when Starkz came back into the picture. Starkz pulled the apron as a distraction. Athena capitalized for an O-Face to guillotine Storm’s head over the ropes.
Mina Shirakawa ran out to handle Starkz to the back. Athena sized up another O-Face. Storm countered the maneuver into the TCM submission to win.
Big-match Athena delivered the goods on the big stage. That suplex into the Koji Clutch was awesome, and the O-Face over the ropes was absolutely brutal. Athena was a killer. Too bad she couldn’t get the win. If a title change was in the works, that would have been a performance worthy of catapulting Athena to the top spot. As it is, Storm continues her reign. She seems to be more and more vulnerable with each defense. It will be interesting to see how long Storm can keep the title.
AEW Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Swerve Strickland to retain the title. Continental rules in effect, so no outside interference. Swerve entered with knee pain. He tweaked the joint on offense, so Okada targeting it as a focal point. Okada also focused on the neck for a DDT on the steel steps and a tombstone piledriver on the floor. Swerve rallied for the Swerve Stomp, however, he was slow on the cover due to pain. Back and forth dance on the finish. Okada ducked the House Call kick to counter for the Rainmaker lariat to win.
Very good match to leave me wanting more whenever they meet for the next round. Commentary explained how Okada is patient. He picks his spots at the right time. That’s what happened in the end. Okada worked Swerve down, anticipated the House Call, and opened the window for the Rainmaker. The match had a good level of intensity throughout. Okada was effective as a foil with his strategy, and Swerve brought the babyface sizzle for his rallies, such as this unique Rainmaker counter into the House Call.
Wardlow returns! After the Okada match, the Rainmaker beat Swerve down with a chair to the knee. Prince Nana ran out to help his friend. That’s when Wardlow entered the ring as a surprise to pummel Nana. Wardlow whooped as on security. He aligned with the Callis Family. Konosuke Takeshita entered fresh off winning the G1 Climax tournament. The Alpha sized up Wardlow and gave the nod of approval.
That was an effective way to remind the world of Wardlow’s dominance. The Callis Family continues expansion. I have to wonder what the long-term plan is for Don Callis collecting all this top-tier talent.
AEW World Tag Team Championship: Brodido defeated Hurt Syndicate (c) and FTR to win the titles. Awesome match. The story was both teams isolating a member of the Hurt Syndicate, because Lashley and Benjamin are too strong as a unit. That led to inadvertent teamwork situations, such as King and Cash Wheeler hitting a Shatter Machine together. There were also plenty of highlights, in particular Bandido landing a moonsault slam onto the pile of bodies outside.
Not to mention the meat fight between King and Lashley. Let’s that be what’s for dinner on Dynamite.
Hurt Syndicate dropping the belts wasn’t the biggest surprise here. It was how they lost. Lashley had the win in his grasp after a spear, but masked men jumped Shelton Benjamin on the outside. Lashley ran over to help his teammate. The ruffians were revealed to be Ricochet and GOA. That attack effectively took out Hurt Syndicate from the finish.
FTR and Brodido duked it out. Dax Harwood superplexed Brody King. Bandido came flying in for a frog splash onto Harwood. Brodido executed the monkey flip splash for the win. The pin was botched with the three-count needing to restart, but the result was still the same. New champions!
For the result, I feel equal parts excitement for Brodido winning and (insert fart noise) for the Hurt Syndicate losing. The tag title reign from Lashley and Benjamin had so much potential for greatness, and AEW barely scratched the surface. There were zero dream matches in their run. Now, the Hurt Syndicate are apparently moving on to a new feud. I’m still high on the Hurt Syndicate, but AEW needs to do better with them. Three cheers for Brodido. That was a pleasant surprise in victory. Of the three teams, I would have said Brodido was least likely to win and most likely to get pinned. King and Bandido have shown such great chemistry in a short period of time, so it’s cool to see them as new champions in an upset. Brodido also paid off the bragging rights for the tournament story by pinning FTR.
Jamie Hayter returns! Thekla brawled with Queen Aminata out to the stage. Julia Hart and Skye Blue joined in for numbers. That’s when Hayter arrived as a surprise for the save.
That was a nice surprise, and Hayter gets the UK pop for a moment to remember. Here’s to hoping Hayter is healthy for the long-term. There are lots of asses that she needs to kick in AEW.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the title. Technical chess match picking each other apart. Nigel had the edge in striking to bloody Sabre’s nose. In the end, Sabre was too slick for a fancy pin to win.
This was like three-quarters of dream match satisfaction. Sabre and Nigel did their thing with scientific skills to pop the crowd, however, the drama never reached a higher level beyond that. It felt like an intense exhibition bout rather than a world title fight. Overall, it was definitely cool to experience the duel of masterminds. That’s part of what Forbidden Door is all about.
The fly in the ointment was Daniel Garcia. No fault to him doing anything wrong. I just don’t understand what purpose AEW planned for Garcia to corner Nigel. At one point, the referee verbally chastised Garcia for leaning on the bottom rope. The second time, he wasn’t even near the action. Like, really? The ref is going to get so upset about that when AEW officials are routinely missing interference and cheating tactics in other matches. Garcia had zero role in the outcome. After the match, I suspect viewers missed a story tease. The camera was focused on Sabre outside. We could hear the crowd react to something, then cameras showed Garcia hugging Nigel. I can only assume maybe Garcia was teasing treachery for a sneak attack then swerved to the hug instead, but I don’t know. The handling of Garcia overall was a mess for this match. If the plan was to set up Sabre versus Garcia, they didn’t lean hard enough into that.
TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) defeated Alex Windsor, Persephone, and Bozilla to retain the title. Four-way contest with representatives from AEW, CMLL, and Stardom. The spot of the match was a spider suplex tower of doom from Windsor at the base.
The closing sequence began with Persephone executing a Razor’s Edge on Bozilla. Windsor swooped in for a sharpshooter on Persephone. Mercedes broke the submission with a Codebreaker on Windsor. Persephone snatched the champ for Razor’s Edge, however, the CEO countered for a rana pin to escape with the win.
Good flow for a four-way. Bozilla was the star of the match as a powerhouse. I’m going to assume most of us don’t watch Stardom, so this was an eye-opening performance to see Bozilla shine. I like how the finish played out. The sequence was creative, and there are angles for singles defenses against each challenger. Bozilla and Windsor can basically say they weren’t the ones pinned. They were exciting enough that I’d like to see what would happen in a straight-up rematch with Mercedes. Persephone may have her moment of revenge if she gets the shot to dethrone the CEO in CMLL for their women’s championship, which is one of Mercedes’ current nine title belts.
TNT Championship: Kyle Fletcher (c) defeated Hiromu Takahashi to retain the title. The story was Takahashi’s toughness to take a beating and what Fletcher would have to do to put him down. Fletcher was in control for much of the match. Takahashi rallied for a brutal sunset flip powerbomb off the apron down to the floor.
Takahashi’s offense started to take a toll on Fletcher’s neck, but the Protostar showed toughness of his own to regain control. The beginning of the end was a tombstone piledriver from Fletcher. Takahashi kicked out on that pinfall, however, Fletcher kept momentum for hard strikes in the corner to set up the brainbuster for victory.
Despite good action and character flair from Takahashi, the match never hooked me in emotion. This was Fletcher’s game all the way. Takahashi was just a NJPW flavor for Forbidden Door and a big name to stack on Fletcher’s ever-growing résumé of victories as TNT champion. Basically, Takahashi did his job giving the rub to build Fletcher.
Adam Copeland & Christian Cage defeated Kip Sabian & Killswitch. Interesting dynamics between opponents and among the teams themselves. Copeland wrestled as a good partner. Christian was more of an asshole being selfish, such as immediately backing away from Killswitch to tag in Cope. On the other side, Killswitch was focused on hurting his father, and he wasn’t letting Sabian get in the way. Tension brewed between ‘brothers’ when Killswitch caught Sabian to powerbomb at Cope. Later, Killswitch tossed Sabian as a cannonball into the corner on the opponent. Sabian was annoyed at this treatment, and tags became testy. At one point, it looked like Killswitch purposely lifted Sabian to eat a doomsday spear from Cope.
The story of the win was trying to take out the powerhouse. Cope picked the right spot at the right time. Luchasaurus was on the apron goozling Christian. Cope came out of nowhere for a spear to save his partner. Back on the inside, Christian escaped a Kill Switch maneuver to pop up Sabian, and Cope connected on another perfectly timed spear. Christian pinned Sabian for the win.
Afterward, Christian offered a handshake to Cope, but he was too cool for a hug.
Nice blend of comedy and action. It was funny how Cope carried the team, and I’m expecting Christian to take credit for the glory. It was also funny how the ‘brothers’ team broke down in trust. I didn’t see that coming and chuckled often at Killswitch’s methods with Sabian whining to Mama Wayne. Killswitch’s aura as a monster remains strong. He was the most dominant force in the match. The action was full of creativity for exciting spots. The finish from Cope was cool in execution, and it gives fodder to feed the storyline in the tag team reunion.
The Zero Hour free pre-show featured four bouts.
AEW World Trios Championship: The Opps (c) defeated War Dogs to retain the titles. Hot tag to Samoa Joe. War Dogs used smart teamwork to neutralize that threat. The match turned in an instant for the finish. As the War Dogs held Joe down for a flying attack to the knee, Shibata blocked the move by booting Robbie X on the turnbuckles. Gedo tried to get involved stepping through the ropes, but Shibata kicked the ropes into Gedo’s groin. Shibata slapped on a sleeper to Clark Connors, while Will Hobbs pummeled Drilla Moloney with punches on a Thesz press. Joe closed with the Musclebuster on Robbie.
Hard-hitting contest with a little bit of comedy, such as Joe walking away from a dive and the Gedo spot. The War Dogs were impressive with smooth teamwork, however, The Opps were never in serious trouble of losing the titles.
Megan Bayne & Triangle of Madness defeated Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron & Queen Aminata. There were a couple of story elements in this contest. Thekla and Aminata renewed hostilities to brawl to the back. There were teases of dissension between Statlander and Willow. It was little things like Willow getting upset over Statlander tagging in Harley instead and later Statlander clobbering Willow on friendly fire. Bayne was a dominant powerhouse throughout. She cleaned up on Harley for a running powerbomb to win.
Bayne was damn impressive with power offense as the star of the match. Harley showed spunk with some sneaky moves for Bayne to feel the wrath. It’s time for Thekla and Aminata to settle their beef in combat. That feud has been teased long enough. I’m eager to see the blow off. The drama between Willow and Statlander has more fuel to smolder. It seemed like an accident from Statlander, but Willow may not see it that way.
Ricochet & GOA defeated JetSpeed & Michael Oku. Pounce! Toa Liona blasted Oku out of the ring.
The finish came down to cheap tricks. Ricochet was in trouble on a half crab from Oku. GOA distracted the referee, so Ric could gouge the eyes to escape. GOA flattened Oku, then they held him up for the Spirit Gun finisher by Ricochet.
Nice action from all involved. That trios match makes me want to see it split off into Ricochet versus Oku in singles and GOA versus JetSpeed in tag team. Good call on the result. Ricochet and GOA need these types of wins to build legitimacy as a unit. I enjoy how AEW has been leaning into the shoulder tackle spots by Liona. Each week is something cool in a creative way to get pounced into oblivion.
Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, Yuya Uemura, & El Desperado defeated Josh Alexander, Hechicero, Lio Rush, & Action Andretti. Andretti landed a sweet corkscrew moonsault onto the pile outside. Rush missed the mark of a frog splash. Uemura capitalized for a butterfly suplex then a bridging butterfly suplex to win.
Afterward, the Callis Family attacked like sore losers. That brought out Tomohiro Ishii for a showdown with Lance Archer. The Stone Pitbill stood tall for a huge brainbuster to the Murderhawk Monster.
For story notes, CRU didn’t get along with the Callis Family, and Strong pulled O’Reilly away from conglomerating with Ishii.
I don’t follow NJPW, so it was a cool treat to see Uemura get the showcase treatment for the match. I remember watching him as a young boy in TNA. He was a quiet bench player then with potential, and now he is a star on the rise with big hair. That bridging butterfly suplex is a nice finisher.
Notes: AEW broke the record for largest professional wrestling attendance in the O2 Arena at 18,992 for Forbidden Door.
Studs of the Show: Brodido
Hats off to the new tag team champions. Brody King and Bandido pulled off the surprise in style.
Match of the Night: Lights Out steel cage match
AEW has a high standard for PPV. The wrestling here was very good, however, few matches reached that epic level. Overall, it was another entertaining PPV.
Share your thoughts about AEW Forbidden Door. PPV replay is available for streaming through PPV.com, Amazon, and YouTube in the United States as well as internationally on Triller TV.
