Forbidden Door 2025: Hangman-MJF and a Violent Cage Main Event Carry the Crossover

El Desperado, Yuya Uemura and Paragon's Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly won the eight-man Zero Hour match against CRU and the Don Callis Family. Uemura made the decisive cover on Lio Rush after a bridging butterfly suplex, giving the result a named pinfall rather than an unspecified multi-man finish. The pace rose when Andretti launched a tornillo to the outside, Rush missed a frog splash, and Uemura recovered from the challengers' tandem attacks. The losing side included Rush, Action Andretti, Josh Alexander and Hechicero; they were not all one established tag team. C+ (6.6) credits an energetic opener while separating the Don Callis Family's attack afterward from the recorded match win.

Ricochet and the Gates of Agony defeated Michael Oku and JetSpeed in the second Zero Hour match, with Ricochet pinning Oku after a Spirit Gun. Oku had briefly threatened a very different result when he trapped Ricochet in a Half Crab, but Ricochet gouged his eyes behind the referee's back to escape. Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona then laid out Oku with Open the Gates and created the opening for Ricochet's final blow. Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey supplied the faster counterattacks without taking the losing fall. C (6.4) recognizes the lively six-man exchanges but calls the cheating and named pin the actual turning points.

Megan Bayne and the Triangle of Madness beat Harley Cameron, Kris Statlander, Queen Aminata and Willow Nightingale in their eight-woman Zero Hour bout. The finish ran through two different mistakes: Statlander accidentally struck her own teammate Willow, and Cameron failed to keep Bayne down after a surprising DDT and schoolboy. Bayne recovered, caught Cameron and finished with a Liger Bomb for the pin. Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue supplied the match's other winning-side numbers, with Penelope Ford involved from ringside rather than as one of the eight legal wrestlers. C+ (6.5) reflects an active ensemble showcase whose final fall came from Bayne's power.

Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs retained the AEW World Trios Championship against the Bullet Club War Dogs. Robbie X nearly stole the result after the challengers isolated Shibata and cut off Hobbs with a triple-team attack, but Shibata knocked Robbie off the top rope to disrupt the finish. Joe then caught Robbie X and delivered the Muscle Buster for the pin while Shibata occupied Drilla Moloney and Joe had already slowed Clark Connors with a sleeper. This was a successful defense of the AEW trios belts, not an IWGP title change. C+ (6.8) credits the efficient short defense and a precise, champion-led finish.

Adam Copeland and Christian Cage won their first tag match together in more than a decade by exploiting the tension between Killswitch and Kip Sabian. The opponents' blind tags and miscommunication grew worse as Mother Wayne interfered at ringside. Sabian nearly stole a pin with a schoolboy, but Cage held him in position for a Copeland spear and made the deciding cover while Killswitch was neutralized. Their post-match handshake and guarded embrace belonged to the ongoing reunion story, not another result. B (7.7) gives the veteran partnership credit for a well-earned return that used the enemies' fractured alliance as the mechanism of victory.

Kyle Fletcher retained the TNT Championship by pinning Hiromu Takahashi after a sheer-drop brainbuster, surviving a far more dangerous challenge than the early size advantage suggested. Takahashi fought back from Fletcher's slams with a DDT on the apron and a sunset-flip powerbomb to the floor. His Northern Lights Bomb and a tight small-package counter to a Tombstone both threatened to end the reign. Fletcher's final answer was to bring Takahashi back toward center ring and finish with the brainbuster. B+ (8.0) credits the exchanges that gave the challenger a plausible path without pretending this was a title change or a Don Callis Family run-in.

Mercedes Moné retained the AEW TBS Championship by pinning Persephone with a victory roll in a four-way also featuring Alex Windsor and Bozilla. The finish followed repeated broken submissions and unlikely saves: Windsor trapped opponents in a double Sharpshooter, while Bozilla nearly ended the match with a top-rope moonsault that forced Moné to interrupt a cover. Persephone's last submission attempt left her exposed to the champion's counter. This is not the separate AEW Women's World title contested later by Toni Storm and Athena. B (7.5) reflects a busy multi-person defense with a definite losing challenger, not an unspecified winner-takes-all outcome.

Zack Sabre Jr. kept the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship by pinning Nigel McGuinness with a deep sunset-flip cradle, not by forcing a submission. The technical contest had nearly ended the opposite way when McGuinness applied the London Dungeon, chained through a triangle choke and later landed the Tower of London, only for Sabre to reach the rope or escape. Daniel Garcia watched McGuinness from ringside as the two wrestlers tested each other's counter-wrestling. A- (8.7) rewards a championship bout in which the final pin is a direct extension of the mat exchanges; the post-match handshake confirms respect without transferring the belt.

Brodido became AEW World Tag Team Champions by beating the Hurt Syndicate and FTR in a three-way, with Bandido pinning Dax Harwood after Brody King's assisted monkey-flip splash combination. The deciding sequence followed outside disruption: Ricochet and GOA, initially disguised in NJPW tracksuits, attacked the defending Lashley-Benjamin team and drew them away from ringside. FTR then tried to exploit the opening, but Stokely's offered chair did not deliver a winning fall, and Bandido capitalized after Harwood's superplex on King. B+ (8.2) credits the upset and intricate finish while acknowledging that the interference helped clear the champions from the decisive pin; this was a genuine tag-title change.

Kazuchika Okada retained the AEW Unified Championship by pinning Swerve Strickland with the Rainmaker after repeatedly exploiting the challenger's damaged knee. Strickland had trouble completing a rope-vaulting attack, and Okada drove the injured leg into the steel steps before building more offense around it. Swerve still landed a top-rope Stomp, but his slow follow-up allowed Okada to recover. Wardlow's return and attack on Prince Nana and Strickland came after the bell, establishing a Don Callis Family alliance without rewriting the match finish as an interference victory. A- (8.5) credits a coherent, cruel target-and-counter title defense.

Toni Storm retained the AEW Women's World Championship when ROH Women's World Champion Athena tapped to the TCM Chickenwing. Athena had nearly stolen Storm's belt with a Koji Clutch, a Liger Bomb and an O-Face, even surviving Storm Zero after the champion fought back. Billie Starkz tried to disrupt the defense from outside, while Mina Shirakawa rushed in to counter the ringside threat; neither woman became an additional legal competitor. Storm finally caught Athena's next charge in a hooked submission that gave her no escape. A- (8.9) recognizes a taxing battle of champions, but only the AEW women's belt was at stake, and no championship changed hands.

Hangman Adam Page retained the AEW World Championship against MJF despite stipulations that offered the challenger additional ways to seize the title. MJF used the referee as a shield, attacked Page with a low blow and tried to steal the pin after a Heatseeker. Mark Briscoe drew referee Bryce Remsburg's attention to Page's foot on the rope, preventing that disputed cover. In the final exchange, Page returned MJF's clipboard attack, landed a third Deadeye and followed with the Buckshot Lariat for the three-count. A (9.2) gives the result meaning beyond the winner: Page overcame rules designed to provoke a disqualification or countout without giving MJF the world title.

The ten-man Lights Out Steel Cage match ended when Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Matt Jackson with a High Fly Flow after the Golden Lovers and Will Ospreay helped set up the decisive sequence. Darby Allin had earlier leapt from the top of the cage with a Coffin Drop that sent Gabe Kidd through tables, while Ospreay also risked a moonsault from the structure. The winning team included Tanahashi, Ospreay, Darby, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi against the Death Riders, Kidd and the Young Bucks. A (9.4) credits the peril and a coherent final fall; Moxley and Castagnoli's brutal later attack on Ospreay was a post-match betrayal, not a reversal of the recorded victory.