AEW and NJPW present their annual crossover event, Forbidden Door, this Sunday. The AEW and IWGP World Heavyweight Championships are both on the line, and this time, Stardom joins the multiverse action. Take a look at all the information you need to catch the show, as well as predictions for every match from our esteemed panel of experts.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 date, start time
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 will air live on Sunday, June 30, 2024 from the UBS Arena on Long Island, New York. It will begin at 8pm ET.
How to watch AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 will be available to purchase from traditional pay-per-view, YouTube, the Bleacher Report app in the United States, and FiteTV/TrillerTV elsewhere. It will cost $49.99.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 card and predictions
The Learning Tree vs. Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata
Darius: Listen man, I need to have some hope in this dark, dark world we inhabit. I’ve stopped being as anti-Learning Tree as I was in the past (thanks, Bryan Keith for making me laugh a bunch), but I still kind of figured that HOOK would be free from the Jericho Vortex by this point. Silly me, I guess, but the least Tony Khan and company can do is get Shibata a win on the co-promoted AEW and New Japan show, right? I also really like Joe, HOOK, and Shibata as a trio, and I hope they remain one after this show, and I feel like we’d get it way less frequently if they lost this match, so that’s yet another reason why I hope it goes the good guys’ way. Seriously, though, even when I start to get kind of into the Jericho segments in a vacuum, I go right back to dreading the whole ordeal as soon as it comes time for Jericho to potentially beat up guys I like again. Here’s hoping we’re spared on Sunday.
Winners: Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata
Jay: I believe in Joe Hendry and everything Darius said above.
Winners: Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata
Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Acclaimed vs. The Elite
Darius: Tanahashi and Okada in the ring together on American soil is sick, to say the least. Traditionally, I’d think that Tanahashi would take a few more losses now that he’s an executive of NJPW, and I’d also think the team that’s all champions would come out the victors. However, with the Acclaimed recently winning their eliminator match, I think I see their side picking up the win to put further pressure on the Young Bucks when it’s time for the official tag team championship match.
Winners: Hiroshi Tanahashi and The Acclaimed
Jay: The Elite is AEW’s best bet at a compelling storyline that the company can revolve around and they have to keep them hot. The Acclaimed are in a weird kind of rut in that they are teetering between being over/not being over and they need to be careful but The Elite will take this. Especially since The Acclaimed beat The Bucks a couple of weeks ago.
Winners: The Elite
Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi (Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Match)
Darius: So, this has real Match of the Night potential, but the only issue is that I don’t really doubt the victor at all. If Shingo was going to fight anyone in AEW, my vote would be Danielson (or maybe Darby or Takeshita), and if it were any other situation, I might even suggest that Danielson could lose the fight since losing is something that Danielson likes to do these days. Still, with this being a first-round match in an AEW tournament, I feel like it’s not too crazy to go ahead and call this my lock of the night.
Winner: “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson
Jay: Shingo is on loan and he ain’t gonna work Collision. I’ve never talked to Shingo but that’s probably what he would say.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
MJF vs. Hechicero
Darius: Before I predict the obvious winner, let me take a moment to gush about how freaking sick Hechicero is. My experience with the world of lucha libre has been limited in the nearly six years since Lucha Underground ended, but watching guys like El Hijo de Vikingo and Hechicero get moments to shine on AEW TV remind me of how I felt discovering Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr. as they tore up the UK independent scene (alongside Joe Hendry and a bunch of guys we don’t talk about anymore) back in 2016. Like ZSJ, Hechicero is one of those guys who makes technical wrestling look super cool, and while it’s neat that he’s somehow involved with the Cage of Agony within the AEW and ROH bubble, I hope he’s able to sustain a small push on American TV sometime soon. That certainly isn’t going to start at Forbidden Door, though, because MJF is going to call him a dork and pin him with a brainbuster after what I presume will be a pretty good match.
Winner: MJF
Jay: This is some EWR shit but I bet you it will be a sleeper. MJF doesn’t mess around ring work wise and Hechicero I feel like is a must-have for AEW. Should be great.
Winner: MJF
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Darius: If this belt doesn’t come off of Moxley’s shoulders, Gedo has lost his mind. The fact that the G1 blocks have already been announced and don’t include Moxley is basically a spoiler at this point, and if it’s NOT a spoiler and somehow the G1 goes on without any champion, it’ll probably be the most frustrating decision NJPW’s made since giving EVIL their top championship. Plus, unlike AEW, New Japan seems to treat Forbidden Door as slightly more than a filler B-pay-per-view, as the main event of last year’s Forbidden Door even directly led to the co-main event of this year’s WrestleKingdom. Having one of the involved promotions’ top championships change hands on the show would do a lot to legitimize the show as something more than a dream match factory, even if it’s really only doing so for New Japan.
Winner: Tetsuya Naito
Jay: I actually sort of like that they are keeping the world title matches uni-branded as it makes the winner less predictable. I can see Naito taking it as Darius said some stuff about the G1 and I only pretend to know about NJPW so yeah, Naito. That’s the guy that does the eye thing, right?
Winner: Tetsuya Naito
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Orange Cassidy
Darius: This match is cool because both men have said that it’s a dream match of theirs over the years, so I’m sure they have a lot of ideas that they’re about to bust out at Forbidden Door. This is one of the matches that’s a little more of a toss-up because there’s nothing but pride on the line, and of the two, Orange is actually the more protected one, in my opinion. If I see ZSJ in a singles match, my confidence in his win depends on the opponent. If I see Orange Cassidy in a singles match, though, I’m usually almost certain that Orange is walking out with his hands raised and/or in his pockets. As for this match, I feel like Orange is in rough enough shape emotionally that he not only has deniability in a big loss here, but the loss also adds to the dogpile that is his jacked up life right now. One best friend retired. Two best friends betrayed him. His back-up tag partners are hanging out with Samoa Joe, though I don’t think he’s too pressed about it. And, on Sunday, I believe he’s taking a rare L to a guy who has been longing to squeeze an Orange.
Winner: Zack Sabre Jr.
Jay: what are we doing here? They did the Trent turn and then OC beat him twice? And OC is the forlorn one? I don’t know, man, but Zack probably beats him to continue OC’s downward spiral.
Winner: Zack Sabre Jr.
“Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa for the AEW Women’s World Championship
Winner: I’m surprised by how often I’ve heard people accept and parrot the idea that Mina is winning the championship at Forbidden Door. I certainly wouldn’t mind it, as I am included in the “everyone” mentioned in the catch-all phrase “Everybody wants Mina.” However, I still learn towards Toni on this one. I feel like AEW is building Toni up to be overthrown by another wrestler who calls AEW home, so even though I feel like Mina is a great wrestler and would love it if the AEW Women’s Championship kept her around, I’m not hopeful. Once again and always, it’s Toni Time.
Winner: “Timeless” Toni Storm
Jay: I think Mariah turns on Mina to give it to Toni. The storyline will be that Toni’s bosom is too strong to resist and we will continue our obligatory march to Mariah vs Toni at Wembley.
Winner: Toni Storm
Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Stephanie Vaquer (c) for the TBS Championship and NJPW Strong Women’s Championship (Winner Take All)
Darius: I’m at my wit’s end. I’m sick of all these double champions in AEW, man. Eddie Kingston and the Bang Bang Gang killed the gimmick for me. This match is going to be great, and it still would have been awesome as an exhibition, even if the question would eventually come up of, “If this wrestler’s good enough to beat the champion, why isn’t she champion?” I’d much rather have that question than sit through the inevitable months of Mercedes Moné trying to be an effective champion for two different promotions. God help me if Mercedes starts defending both championships in the same match, especially if we’re expected to buy in to the notion that a total outsider is about to win an AEW championship — a bit of disbelief we’re already expected to suspend for this very match. Congrats to Mercedes on the win, I guess.
Winner: Mercedes Moné
Jay: I’m still waiting for Moné to start a revolution. She’s been saying it since 2015 and hasn’t done much but have great matches. This will be another great match, but then what?
Winner: Mercedes Moné
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Jack Perry vs. Dante Martin vs. Lio Rush vs. El Phantasmo for the TNT Championship (Ladder Match)
Darius: Now, if I had to pick my favorite winner of this match, it comes down to Big Take, Chicken Briscoe, and the Scapegoat. For Takeshita, I’ve been fantasy booking him as TNT Champion since he showed up in AEW, and I’m always down for him to win something meaningful. For Briscoe, the past few weeks of promos have shot him up from a guy I casually respect to one of my favorite wrestlers on the roster, and the only thing stopping me from rooting for him to win the whole thing is my earlier rant about double champions. Jack Perry, meanwhile, has it all in terms of interest and general likelihood of winning the match. The TNT Championship isn’t above anyone in the match, as a surprise win for a guy like Dante Martin would be keeping in line with the title’s lineage as a career elevator (see top babyface Darby Allin and top heel Christian Cage as examples). However, with Jack Perry, the image of every member of the new Elite having a championship is too tantalizing to pass up, and I’m sure that, as champion, the former Jungle Boy can more than deliver.
Winner: Jack Perry
Jay: This will be a great match but it has no heat because we all know Jack Perry is going to win it. I have no idea how he went from having nuclear heat to just kind of being there. I love AEW but it’s stuff like this that makes me shake my head. They should have just given Perry the belt and then have the story being “oh damn, how will Perry get out of this?”
Winner: Jack Perry
Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship
Darius: I’ll let them cook for sure, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive towards this feud since it began. It’s cool to give Swerve a world-beater of an opponent so early into his reign, as I feel like Ospreay has the champion-threatening momentum that Christian Cage lacked going into Double or Nothing. That being said, part of the reason why Ospreay has this momentum is because he had JUST won the AEW International Championship at Double or Nothing THREE DAYS EARLIER. No matter how many heatless International Championship open challenges Ospreay wrestles in the meantime, his belt simply feels devalued now that his primary objective is winning a different belt a month after winning his other one. I’m not even one of the people saying that AEW messed up by not saving this match for All In, because I honestly think that having a babyface Swerve wrestle and potentially beat Ospreay in London would be even more baffling. I just think that right now wasn’t the time for this match, because as intriguing as it would be for these two to wrestle in a match where either man feels like they could win, it sucks that we’re headed into Forbidden Door and I’m 99% positive that Swerve is winning. And, as much as I love Ospreay, the thought of the opposite result happening angers me to no end.
Winner: Swerve Strickland
Jay: The match is dumb. This should be at All In and the feud sucks. There’s no real heat between the two as Swerve doesn’t have any beef with Ospreay and Ospreay just wants to bruv and bump. I can see Hangman returning and helping Swerve retain under the logic that he wants to be the one to beat Swerve.
Winner: Swerve Strickland
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