The double-promotion headache is back

AEW and NJPW are dragging us back to the well for Forbidden Door 2026. Last year gave us a few stone-cold classics, but the booking felt like a fever dream cobbled together by two people who haven't spoken in six months. This time, the card looks thinner than a weight-cut fighter at weigh-ins. Tony Khan and the NJPW brass still don't know how to book a co-branded show without making the champions look like they are working a glorified exhibition at the village fair.

We are still waiting on official confirmations, but the rumors involving the IWGP World Heavyweight title defense are already driving me up the wall. If anyone thinks we are getting a clean finish, they clearly haven't been watching the product since the G1 Climax 35. You can bet your bottom dollar we are looking at a thirty-minute sprint that ends in a schmoz or a time-limit draw just to protect both companies' fragile egos.

Predicting the carnage: The main event headache

The main event is almost certainly going to feature the AEW World Champion squaring off against whoever current IWGP holder is looking the most tired after a brutal month of touring. Expect high-impact spots until about 22 minutes in, followed by a flurry of finishers that nobody actually kicks out of until the final sequence. I am projecting a narrow outcome where the AEW champion eats the pin if Khan wants to build tension for a rubber match at All In.

Let’s talk about the mid-card misery. The IWGP Global Championship spot is likely where they hide the best workrate guys so they can wrestle for 25 minutes while the crowd forgets whose belt is actually on the line. I expect a flurry of dragon screws and rapid-fire enzuigiris ending in a 24-minute technical masterpiece that results in zero actual character development for either man. It’s the kind of match that makes you feel smart for watching but leaves you wondering why you bothered.

The tag team mess that nobody asked for

The tag team title unification or whatever nonsense they call it this week is a disaster waiting to happen. Mixing NJPW’s long-term heavyweight tag division with AEW’s flavor-of-the-month scramble matches is like mixing oil and water. It usually leads to a spot-fest where someone gets dropped on their neck during a botched Canadian Destroyer. Expect roughly 18 false finishes before the team with the most momentum in the WON ratings walks away with the straps.

The women's division involvement remains the biggest question mark. If, as recent reports suggest, they prioritize Stardom talent crossover, prepare for a frantic twelve-minute affair that will be relegated to the pre-show slot. It is an insulting oversight that they haven't figured out how to integrate these high-caliber workers into the main broadcast. Watching a world-class wrestler get five minutes on a PPV is a crime against humanity.

The uncomfortable reality of co-booking

The biggest critique of this whole venture is simple: chemistry is nonexistent. You see these dream matches that look incredible on paper but end up being clunky because neither performer knows the other’s rhythm. Like that time NJPW tried to force English commentary on a main event that clearly didn't need it, we are going to see a lot of awkward transitions as guys try to call spots in the ring while wearing different colored wrist tape.

I expect the finish of the night to be a complete mess involving a run-in from a faction that doesn’t even have a narrative reason to be there. Tony Khan loves those overbooked endings where everyone stands in the ring looking confused. We are betting on a massive cluster-tag bout that settles absolutely nothing. If I see one more Canadian Destroyer on the apron to set up a 2-count, I might just throw my remote through the wall.

This card is an ego trip for the promoters, not the fans. We’re going to get high-level moves, stiff strikes, and enough suplexes to fill an entire year of television. Yet, when the lights go down and the pyrotechnics fizzle out, we will be left with the same questions about long-term payoffs. It is a spectacle, sure, but a well-booked show it is not. Enjoy the spots, but keep your expectations for cohesive storytelling at 0 percent.