Predicting The Card For AEW Forbidden Door 2026

AEW

AEW Double or Nothing 2026 proved to be a night of excellent in-ring action and surprise moments, with the sold out Queens, New York crowd eating up every last moment.

Next on the calendar for AEW will be its Summer tradition of Forbidden Door on June 28, as AEW, NJPW, CMLL and STARDOM come together for a night of crossover action.

Taking the crossover nature of the event into account, as well as what transpired at AEW Double or Nothing, here is our full card prediction for AEW Forbidden Door 2026.

Owen Hart Tournament Men’s Final: Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland

At AEW Double or Nothing, Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland both came through hard fought first round matches in this year’s Men’s AEW Owen Hart Tournament.

Ospreay, who is eyeing up a potential fairytale homecoming at AEW All In London 2026, bested Samoa Joe in what was their first-ever encounter. While Swerve Strickland defeated ROH World Champion Bandido in one of the best matches of the night.

Strickland now advances to take on either Claudio Castagnoli or Brody King in the semifinals, while Ospreay will welcome the challenge of either Mark Davis or “Jungle” Jack Perry.

While an upset could always happen, it has seemed pretty cut and dry from when the brackets were announced that Ospreay and Strickland would meet in the final. And many fans would anticipate that it is Ospreay who books his spot in an AEW World Title match at All In London.

AEW TNT Championship: Kevin Knight (c) vs. Darby Allin

As expected from a Darby Allin AEW World Title run, the Seattle native rode until the wheels fell off in just 39 days, putting his body on the line on a weekly basis and providing many memorable moments, despite it not lasting for the long haul.

With a Hair vs. Title stipulation, Darby Allin and MJF put on an excellent main event at Double or Nothing, with MJF ultimately winning and earning his third AEW World Championship.

While that was the result many expected, it was what happened after the match that truly took fans aback. AEW TNT Champion Kevin Knight, who was in the ring after fending off MJF in the post match, took to the top turnbuckle and hit a UFO Splash on Darby, as he was laid out on a stretcher.

We will have to wait for an explanation as to why exactly “The Jet” did what he did, but it’s a certainty that Darby will be out for revenge when he returns to TV. While he may potentially take some time off following a non-stop run as AEW World Champion, Darby vs. Knight could be on the cards for Forbidden Door.

AEW Women’s World Championship: Thekla vs. Saya Kamitani

At AEW Double or Nothing 2026, Thekla once again successfully defended her AEW Women’s World Title against the stiff challenge of Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida.

After knocking back three former AEW Women’s World Champions, “The Toxic Spider” may have to look outside of AEW for her next big challenger.

With STARDOM a part of this year’s Forbidden Door proceedings, Saya Kamitani may be the favorite to potentially step up to the plate.

Not only could she outnumber the Triangle of Madness with her HATE faction – of which Thekla was once a part of – but she is also now with gold after dropping the World of STARDOM World Championship to Sayaka Kamura in April. Everything is lined up for what could be a show stealer between the two former allies.

AEW World Tag Team Championships: Cope & Cage (c) vs. The Young Bucks vs. Los Hermanos Chavez (Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja) vs. Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)

Last year’s AEW Forbidden Door event saw The Hurt Syndicate, Bandido & FTR duke it out in a three-way for the AEW World Tag Team Titles, but things could be taken up a notch for this year’s event.

After winning their first tag team gold together in 25 years at AEW Double or Nothing, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage will have no shortage of potential challengers waiting for them. Most obviously perhaps will be The Young Bucks, who will likely be looking for that first-ever tag team match with Cope & Cage, now that they’ve displaced FTR as AEW’s top team.

While the match very well could just be a two-on-two affair, AEW may look to also bring in the top teams from CMLL and NJPW to further spice things up.

Los Hermanos Chavez have ruled over the CMLL tag team division since January 2022, while in NJPW, the Knockout Brothers have been running roughshod over the promotion since becoming IWGP Tag Team Champions last September.

AEW International Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Kazuchika Okada

In what may have been the match of the night, Konosuke Takeshita finally got one over on Kazuchika Okada after months and months of brewing tension.

Leaving Okada without gold for the first time since March 2024, “The Alpha” became the new AEW International Champion for the second time. However, as many expected, the title change was not welcomed by the Don Callis Family.

Kyle Fletcher made his return from injury to congratulate his Protoshita tag partner, but turned on him to firmly align himself with Callis, and oust Takeshita from the family once and for all.

Following this, we could see Takeshita put his AEW International Title on the line against both Fletcher and Okada, a match that will both stack the odds against the new champion, and test the strength of the relationship between “The Rainmaker” and “The Protostar.”

AEW Women’s Owen Hart Tournament Final: Mercedes Moné vs. Athena

On the Wednesday, May 20 episode of AEW Dynamite, Willow Nightingale announced that she was relinquishing the AEW TBS Championship, as well as her spot in the Women’s Owen Hart Tournament due to a shoulder injury.

In replacement of Nightingale, AEW confirmed that a “wild card” would enter the tournament, with no clues as of yet for who could potentially take the spot.

While there are many options, this feels like a perfect opportunity for AEW to bring back “The CEO” Mercedes Moné – who has been off TV for the entirety of 2026.

As for who could stand across the ring from her in the final, Athena made a strong case for herself to take that spot by defeating Mina Shirakawa in her first round match at AEW Double or Nothing. With almost four years as ROH Women’s World Champion, it feels like the right time for “The Fallen Goddess” to get another shot at the AEW Women’s World Title.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Callum Newman (c) vs. Jon Moxley

One of the more interesting stories in AEW over the past few months has been Will Ospreay’s relationship with Jon Moxley’s Death Riders.

Ospreay and Moxley were initially at each other’s throats in the Spring, with the English star returning following neck surgery with revenge on his mind after Moxley and the Death Riders put him on the shelf at last year’s Forbidden Door.

During this feud with the Death Riders, Ospreay would even recruit the help of the United Empire – led by Ospreay’s protégé, and new IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman. While the group did oblige and assisted Ospreay on the April 4 episode of Dynamite, tensions between Newman and Ospreay have mounted, leading to speculation of a future showdown between them.

With Ospreay now loosely aligned with the Death Riders and Moxley, we could potentially see the United Empire invade and take down the group, setting up an IWGP Heavyweight Title match between Newman and the AEW Continental Champion.

AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs. Mistico

Coming out of AEW Double or Nothing with his third AEW World Championship, one would think there would be an abundance of potential challengers lining up to take the gold from MJF at Forbidden Door 2026.

However, with Darby Allin now likely moving into a feud with Kevin Knight, Kenny Omega already beaten at AEW Dynasty, Hangman Page out of the picture indefinitely and Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland likely meeting in the Owen Hart Cup final, there is not a clear and obvious choice for MJF’s next challenger.

That’s why the best course of action may instead be to revisit a feud which captured the imaginations of AEW and CMLL fans last year: MJF and Mistico.

While Mistico has reportedly been dealing with a knee injury recently, it appears as if he may be back in action before too long, which could be great news for a potential third one-on-one meeting between he and MJF – this time for the richest prize in all of AEW.

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• AEW
• Forbidden Door

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