The 2024 Forbidden Door was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and supershow co-produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and the Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was the third annual Forbidden Door event and took place on June 30, 2024, at the UBS Arena in the Long Island hamlet of Elmont, New York. The event also featured the involvement of wrestlers from NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, as well as Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), a partner of both AEW and NJPW.
Fifteen matches were contested at the event, including five on Zero Hour pre-show. In the main event, Swerve Strickland defeated Will Ospreay to retain the AEW World Championship. In other prominent matches, Tetsuya Naito defeated Jon Moxley to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Mercedes Moné defeated Stephanie Vaquer in a Winner Takes All match to retain the AEW TBS Championship and win the NJPW Strong Women's Championship, Jack Perry defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, Dante Martin, Lio Rush, and El Phantasmo in a Ladder match to win the vacant AEW TNT Championship, and "Timeless" Toni Storm defeated Mina Shirakawa to retain the AEW Women's World Championship. The event also featured the return of Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., who had been on hiatus since September 2023.
Production Background
Forbidden Door is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Established in 2022, the event is held in June and features direct competition between wrestlers from the two companies. The event takes its name from the same term often used by AEW when referring to working with other professional wrestling promotions.
On April 11, 2024, AEW announced that the third Forbidden Door would take place on June 30, 2024, at the UBS Arena in the Long Island hamlet of Elmont, New York. Rocky Romero, who is a vice president for both AEW and NJPW, said that wrestlers from World Wonder Ring Stardom, a women's Japanese company and sister promotion of NJPW, would also take part in the 2024 event. He also said that wrestlers from the Mexican partner promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) would be involved.
Storylines Forbidden Door featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Storylines were primarily advanced on AEW's weekly television shows Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision, the YouTube series Being The Dark Order, and also at NJPW, Stardom, and CMLL events.
During the May 22 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that on the following week's episode, a Casino Gauntlet match would be held to determine who would challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door. The match was won by Will Ospreay.
At Double or Nothing, Adam Copeland legitimately injured his leg in his successful title defense of the AEW TNT Championship. On the following episode of Dynamite, AEW executive vice presidents The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) stripped Copeland of the title due to the injury. As they were about to award the championship to their Elite stablemate Jack Perry, Christopher Daniels—who had been fired by the Bucks two weeks prior—appeared, revealing that AEW president Tony Khan had reinstated him as an interim executive vice president in the absence of Kenny Omega, who had surgery due to diverticulitis, and that any announcement made by Daniels came directly from Khan. Daniels then announced that the TNT Championship would not be handed to Perry and instead, the next champion would be determined by a ladder match at Forbidden Door and the six participants would come from qualifying matches over the next few weeks. The first qualifying match took place on that week's episode of Rampage, where Konosuke Takeshita defeated Penta El Zero Miedo. Mark Briscoe then qualified on the next week's Dynamite by defeating Brian Cage. Perry qualified next by defeating Dustin Rhodes on the June 12 episode of Dynamite, followed by Dante Martin defeating Lee Moriarty on the June 15 episode of Collision. Lio Rush then qualified on the June 21 episode of Rampage by defeating Action Andretti. El Phantasmo earmed the final spot in the ladder match by defeating AR Fox on the June 28 episode of Rampage.
Following her successful defense of the AEW TBS Championship on the May 29 episode of Dynamite, Mercedes Moné was interrupted by NJPW Strong Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer, who performs in NJPW, Stardom, and CMLL. The two subsequently stared each other down while holding their respective titles up. The following week, it was announced that the two would face each other at Forbidden Door in a Winner Takes All match for both championships. Before that, however, Moné was scheduled to defend the TBS Championship against Vaquer's CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship partner Zeuxis on the June 12 episode of Dynamite and it was announced that if Moné lost her title to Zeuxis, then the Forbidden Door match would only be for Vaquer's Strong Women's Championship; Moné retained.
Prior to signing with AEW in November 2023, Mariah May performed in Stardom where she teamed together with Mina Shirakawa as part of Club Venus. After signing with AEW, May became a protege of AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm, who also previously performed in Stardom from 2016 to 2019. Storm made a surprise appearance at Stardom American Dream on April 4 after a Club Venus match and teased a match at Forbidden Door; in return, Shirakawa made her first appearance in AEW on the April 10 episode of Dynamite, saving May from a post-match beatdown before kissing her. Over the next two months, Shirakawa would periodically appear on AEW shows and compete with Storm for May's affection. During Stardom's June 2 event, Storm, along with May, appeared in a vignette where Storm said she had been observing Shirakawa and while she also considered Shirakawa a friend due to her friendship with May, Storm wanted to challenge Shirakawa to a match at Forbidden Door with the AEW Women's World Championship on the line. Shirakawa accepted the challenge and the match was made official on the June 5 episode of Dynamite, with May listed as the cornerwoman for both participants upon her request.
At Forbidden Door in 2023, AEW's Orange Cassidy won a four-man match which also involved NJPW's Zack Sabre Jr. The following year on the June 8, 2024, episode of Collision, Sabre challenged Cassidy to a rematch as a singles match at Forbidden Door, claiming the two men had unfinished business.
At NJPW's Windy City Riot in April, AEW's Jon Moxley defeated NJPW's Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. After retaining the title at NJPW's Dominion on June 9, Moxley cut a promo for anyone to challenge him. Naito came out to confront Moxley, and a rematch for the title was set for Forbidden Door.
At Double or Nothing, MJF made a surprise return from injury after being out since Worlds End in December 2023. He subsequently made his first appearance back on Dynamite on the June 5 episode where he badmouthed The Elite. Following MJF's match on the June 19 episode, Cage of Agony (Brian Cage, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun) and CMLL's Hechicero appeared on the titantron. Cage subsequently announced that The Elite had a gift for MJF and it was that he would be facing Hechicero in MJF's hometown at Forbidden Door.
The Owen Hart Cup is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by AEW in partnership with The Owen Hart Foundation in honor of Owen Hart. It consists of two single-elimination tournaments, one each for men and women, and the respective winners receive a trophy called "The Owen". Additionally, for 2024, it was announced that the respective winners would earn matches for AEW's men's and women's world championships at All In in August. During the June 19 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that AEW's Bryan Danielson would face NJPW's Shingo Takagi at Forbidden Door in a first-round tournament match.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRoleNameCommentatorsExcalibur Taz Nigel McGuinness Matt Menard Jim Ross Spanish commentatorsAlvaro RiojasCarlos CabreraAriel LevyRing announcersJustin Roberts Bobby Cruise Arkady Aura Takuro Shibata RefereesAubrey EdwardsBryce RemsburgMike PoseyPaul TurnerRick KnoxStephon SmithRed Shoes UnnoPre-show hostsRenee PaquetteRJ CityJeff JarrettRocky Romero Pre-show There were five matches contested on the Zero-Hour pre-show. In the opener, ROH World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher faced Serpentico. In the closing stages, Fletcher delivered a big boot and a tombstone piledriver. Fletcher then delivered a turnbuckle brainbuster to Serpentico and pinned him to win the match.
Next, Kings of the Black Throne (Malakai Black and Brody King) faced Kyle O'Reilly and Tomohiro Ishii, Private Party (Zay and Quen), and Roderick Strong and NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd (accompanied by Gedo and The Undisputed Kingdom – ROH World Tag Team Champions Matt Taven and Mike Bennett). In the closing stages, Zay delivered a diving crossbody to Kidd for a two-count. Ishii delivered a massive brainbuster to King, but Quen broke up the pin attempt. Private Party then delivered double tope suicidas to all the teams on the outside. Private Party attempted the Silly String on Black, but Black escaped and delivered a jumping knee strike on Zay and King hit the Gonzo Bomb on the latter for the win.
Following that, a tag team match between Tam Nakano and Willow Nightingale, and Kris Statlander and Momo Watanabe (accompanied by Stokely Hathaway). In the opening stages, Statlander delivered a delayed vertical suplex to Nakano for a two-count. Nakano hit a roundhouse kick on Statlander and tagged in Willow, who delivered a big boot and a spinebuster, but Statlander responded with a discus lariat on Willow. Nakano tagged in and Statlander delivered a German suplex to Nakano for a two-count. Willow delivered an avalanche Death Valley Driver to Momo for a two-count. Willow then hit the Pounce on Momo and tagged in Nakano, who performed a hammerlock German suplex on Momo and pinned her to win the match for her team.
Following that, Mariah May (accompanied by AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm and Luther) faced Saraya (accompanied by Harley Cameron) in the Women's Owen Hart Foundation tournament quarterfinals, with the winner facing Hikaru Shida on Rampage: Beach Break. In the opening stages, Mariah hit the Mariah-Go-Round on Saraya and delivered a missile dropkick. Mariah delivered a headbutt and a running corner hip attack to Saraya. Saraya then hit a neckbreaker on Mariah for a two-count, as Mariah touched the ropes. Saraya then attempted the Ram-Paige, but Mariah reversed it into an inside cradle for the win.
In the final match of the Zero-Hour pre-show, The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) and CMLL's Místico (accompanied by Alex Abrahantes) faced NJPW's Los Ingobernables de Japón (Hiromu Takahashi, Titán and Yota Tsuji). In the closing stages, Místico delivered a senton to Takahashi. Takahashi responded with a powerbomb off the apron onto the floor to Místico. Titán then delivered a diving splash to Místico for a two-count. Penta then delivered slingblades to LIJ and hit a Canadian Destroyer on Takahashi. The Lucha Brothers then hit the Fear Factor on Takahashi and Místico locked in La Mística on Titán, forcing him to tap out for the win.
Preliminary matches