AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 Notes: New Attendance Record for The O2, Johnny Saint Appears, Jamie Hayter Returns, Brodido Wins AEW Tag Titles, Wardlow Surprise Return & Joins Don Callis Family, UK Return Set for This December for Dynamite & Collision Shows, Death Riders Attack Will Ospreay After Lights Out Match

AEW
Aug 24, 2025

New Attendance Record for Wrestling Event Set for The O2

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event at The O2 in London, England featured AEW officially announcing that this year’s event set a new all-time record.

During the Zero Hour Pre-show, Tony Schiavone welcomed AEW CEO Tony Khan, Dr. Martha Hart, and Oje Hart to the stage area. After some words by Martha, Khan announced that this year’s Forbidden Door event set a new all-time record for the largest ever attendance for a wrestling event at The O2 in venue history.

No number was given by Khan as part of his announcement at the time.

In a follow-up segment, Tony Schiavone came out to the ring and announced the official attendance of 18,992 for the show.

WrestleTix reported that AEW had sold and distributed around 17,573 tickets as of the start of the show.

Johnny Saint Makes Appearance at Forbidden Door 2025

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event also featured British wrestling legend and former NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint making a surprise appearance.

Prior to the start of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match between Nigel McGuinness and Zack Sabre Jr., a video aired featuring McGuinness walking around in London and having a chat with Saint while playing chess.

Jamie Hayter Makes Surprise Return

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event also featured Jamie Hayter making a surprise return from injury.

During the show, Thelka and Queen Aminata were seen brawling backstage and made their way to the stage from a brawl that originally started during their All Star 8-Woman Tag Team match on the Zero Hour pre-show. This led to the Triangle of Madness’ Julia Hart and Skye Blue running out to attack Aminata and proceeded to beat her down.

This led to Hayter’s music playing and her running out to save Aminata and cleared away the Triangle of Madness.

This was Hayter’s first appearance since this past May due to an undisclosed injury.

Brodido Wins AEW Tag Titles at Forbidden Door 2025

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event also featured Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) defeating FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) and The Hurt Syndicate (Shelton Benjamin & Bobby Lashley) in a Three-way match to become the new AEW World Tag Team Champions.

This was Brodido’s first AEW World Tag Team Championship victory as a team in their AEW careers.

Wardlow Makes Surprise Return & Joins Don Callis Family at Forbidden Door 2025

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event also featured Wardlow making his surprise return.

Following Kazuchika Okada defeating Swerve Strickland to retain the AEW Unified Championship, Okada attacked Strickland’s injured leg with a chair. This led to Prince Nana running out holding a pipe and chased Okada away. As Nana was checking on Strickland in the ring, Wardlow came out and attacked Nana from behind as Don Callis and Okada looked on from the rampway. This led to security coming out trying to stop Wardlow to no avail and them also getting laid out by Wardlow.

Wardlow then left the ring and walked up to Okada and Callis and gave a hug to Callis revealing himself as the newest member of the Don Callis Family.

AEW Returning to UK This December for Dynamite & Collision Shows

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event also featured AEW announcing they will be returning this December to the United Kingdom for a set of AEW Dynamite and Collision shows.

It was announced that AEW will be holding a new Dynamite show on December 17th at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England.

It was also announced that AEW will be holding a new Collision show on December 13th at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Death Riders Attack Will Ospreay After Lights Out Match

Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 show also featured the Death Riders viciously attacking Will Ospreay after the Lights Out Steel Cage match.

Following Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega), & Ospreay’s victory over the Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Jon Moxley), The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), & Gabe Kidd, Ospreay’s team celebrated before leaving the ring and the cage so that he could get one final spotlight treatment. This led to the crowd cheering for Ospreay over this being his potential final show for a long while due to him expected to undergo neck surgery soon.

This celebratory moment was interrupted by the Death Riders’ Moxley, Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Marina Shafir attacking Ospreay and laying him out. Castagnoli then placed a chair around Ospreay’s neck and Moxley hit a stomp on it to Pilmanize Ospreay’s neck as Omega, Ibushi, and Tanahashi looked on from the outside of the cage trying to get back in. This led to The Opps running out and managed to get into the cage and chased the Death Riders away as AEW officials and medics rushed to attend to Ospreay as the show went to a close.

Trending
  1. WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Results - Dec. 13, 2025 - John Cena vs. Gunther in John Cena's Final MatchWWE Saturday Night’s Main Event Results – Dec. 13, 2025 – John Cena vs.…
  2. WWE: Vince McMahon Makes Brief Video Appearance at 12/13 WWE SNME Show, CM Punk Appearance and Logan Paul vs. Rey Mysterio Set for 12/15 WWE RAW Show, Andrade El Idolo on If Divorce from Charlotte Flair Led to His WWE ExitWWE: Vince McMahon Makes Brief Video Appearance at 12/13 WWE SNME Show, CM Punk Appearance…
  3. WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Show Notes: Kurt Angle, The Rock, Kevin Owens, Joe Hendry, & More Appears, John Cena "GOAT" Tribute Video Airs, Michael Cole Pays Tribute to Taz, Jim Ross, & Others Who Called Cena Matches with Him, Gunther Makes Cena Tap Out in Cena's Final Match & Cena Leaves His Shoes In RingWWE Saturday Night’s Main Event Show Notes: Kurt Angle, The Rock, Kevin Owens, Joe…
  4. Triple H Responds to Negative Crowd Backlash Over John Cena's Loss at 12/13 WWE SNME ShowTriple H Responds to Negative Crowd Backlash Over John Cena’s Loss at 12/13 WWE SNME Show
  5. ROH Global Wars UK 2025 Taping Spoilers from Cardiff, WalesROH Global Wars UK 2025 Taping Spoilers from Cardiff, Wales
  6. Tony Khan Announces One Night Return for AEW DarkTony Khan Announces One Night Return for AEW Dark