AEW Forbidden Door 2027
Full Card Predictions & NJPW Crossover Guide
The biggest crossover event in professional wrestling returns. AEW and NJPW open the Forbidden Door once more in 2027, bringing the world's best wrestlers onto one card. Here's every match prediction, dream booking and NJPW star expected to appear.
Event Overview: AEW Forbidden Door 2027
What Is Forbidden Door?
AEW Forbidden Door is the annual joint pay-per-view between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. First held in 2022, it has become one of the most anticipated events on the wrestling calendar — a true celebration of global professional wrestling that brings together two of the sport's premier promotions.
The premise is simple but genius: both rosters are available to book against each other, creating dream matches that could never otherwise happen. AEW's top stars face NJPW's champions and vice versa, producing matches that fans have dreamed about for years.
Forbidden Door 2027 builds on a strong run of events. By this point the relationship between AEW and NJPW is well-established, with a deep talent exchange programme and titles having crossed promotional lines on multiple occasions.
Key Event Details
The Marquee Match: AEW World vs NJPW IWGP Championship
AEW World Champion vs NJPW IWGP World Heavyweight Champion
The centrepiece of Forbidden Door is always the clash between AEW's top champion and NJPW's premier title holder. In 2027 this match carries years of built-up expectation and cross-promotional history. Whoever holds the AEW World Championship heading into June will be on a collision course with NJPW's IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in what promises to be a technical masterpiece.
The Forbidden Door crossover championship match format has produced some of the finest matches in recent wrestling history. The 2027 edition comes with both promotions having deeper history together, potentially including a title-vs-title structure that would raise the stakes even higher.
NJPW Stars Expected to Appear: Okada, Ospreay, Tanahashi & More
Forbidden Door's appeal is the NJPW talent appearing alongside AEW's roster. These are the New Japan stars whose appearance would generate the biggest reactions and produce the most memorable matches at Forbidden Door 2027.
The Rainmaker is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Okada's involvement in any Forbidden Door card elevates it immediately. His match quality is unmatched and a Forbidden Door 2027 appearance against a top AEW star would be a genuine career highlight for his opponent.
Will Ospreay's history bridges both promotions uniquely. Having competed extensively in NJPW before becoming an AEW main eventer, Ospreay could find himself at the intersection of both worlds in 2027 — potentially defending or challenging for a title that crosses promotional lines.
The Ace of the Universe remains a beloved figure at every Forbidden Door event. Tanahashi's involvement provides a connection to NJPW's golden era and his match quality and crowd connection remain exceptional. A farewell or legacy match for the Ace would be deeply fitting at a crossover spectacular.
Shingo Takagi represents NJPW's hard-hitting heavyweight division. His power and technical style translates perfectly to AEW crowds who appreciate strong physical wrestling. A matchup with an AEW heavyweight would be a highlight of any Forbidden Door card.
ZSJ is arguably the best submission wrestler in the world and a staple of NJPW's upper card. At Forbidden Door, his unique technical style creates matches unlike anything AEW's regular roster can produce. An AEW technical wrestler like Bryan Danielson alumnus match-types would be a fan dream.
EVIL's Bullet Club connection and King of Darkness persona make him a natural villain foil for AEW's babyface roster. EVIL can generate genuine heat from AEW crowds who may be less familiar with his NJPW run, setting up a satisfying conquest match for an AEW star.
Women's Division: AEW & NJPW Crossover Bouts
The women's division at Forbidden Door has grown significantly with each edition. NJPW's STRONG Women's Championship and AEW's Women's World Championship both provide potential crossover title defences and challenger scenarios that previous events have used to great effect.
AEW Women's World Championship
The AEW Women's Champion faces a unique challenge at Forbidden Door — defending against an NJPW challenger who is virtually unknown to AEW's audience but beloved in Japanese wrestling. This dynamic has produced some of Forbidden Door's most surprisingly excellent matches.
NJPW STRONG Women's Championship
The NJPW STRONG Women's Championship has featured prominently at multiple Forbidden Door events. An AEW women's contender challenging for the STRONG title gives AEW's women's division international exposure while providing a marquee Forbidden Door bout on its own merits.
Tag Team & Trios Crossover Matches
Tag team and trios bouts at Forbidden Door allow for creative mixed-roster partnerships, putting AEW and NJPW wrestlers on the same team or directly opposing each other in six-man action. These matches are consistently among Forbidden Door's most fun and spectacle-driven bouts.
AEW World Tag Team Championship Defence
The AEW Tag Team Champions could defend against an NJPW tag team making a Forbidden Door appearance. NJPW has several elite tag teams — Roppongi 3K, Dangerous Tekkers, and others — whose style would create unique match dynamics against AEW's division.
Mixed Roster Trios Match
One of Forbidden Door's most unique offerings: an AEW+NJPW superteam vs another AEW+NJPW superteam. These mixed-roster matches put wrestlers who have never teamed together in the same corner, creating unpredictable dynamics and chemistry that cannot be replicated anywhere else in wrestling.
NJPW STRONG Tag Championship
The NJPW STRONG Tag titles could also feature at Forbidden Door, with an AEW team receiving a shot at the belts as part of the event's cross-promotional booking philosophy. These matches add championship prestige to the mid-card without overloading the main event scene.
Fantasy Booking: Dream Matches Fans Want for Forbidden Door 2027
Part of the magic of Forbidden Door is that dream matches which could never happen on any other card suddenly become reality. Here are the matches wrestling fans most want to see at Forbidden Door 2027.
Okada vs MJF
The Rainmaker against The Salt of the Earth would be a technical and psychological chess match unlike anything either promotion's fans have seen. Okada's methodical pace against MJF's heel genius would produce something genuinely special.
Will Ospreay vs Swerve Strickland
Two of the most athletically gifted wrestlers in the world on the same card with a storyline reason to collide. Their styles are perfectly complementary — Ospreay's aerial technical brilliance against Swerve's dynamic unpredictability.
ZSJ vs Bryan Danielson
Two of the greatest technical wrestlers alive, this match is at the top of every fan's Forbidden Door wish list. A pure wrestling clinic between two submission specialists who have rarely been on the same card would be a genuine once-in-a-generation match.
Tanahashi vs Samoa Joe
A generational collision between two legends of the sport. Tanahashi's legendary career against Joe's destructive submission game would serve as a perfect legacy match — two veterans with nothing to prove but everything to give in front of a Forbidden Door crowd.
Kenny Omega Return
If Kenny Omega returns at full health by 2027, Forbidden Door is the perfect stage for his comeback. As the man who originally forged the AEW-NJPW relationship, Omega returning at a Forbidden Door event would be one of the most emotionally resonant moments in the event's history.
Jon Moxley vs Shingo Takagi
A slobberknocker of the highest order. Moxley's brawling death-match mentality clashing with Shingo's hard-hitting dragon gate power style would be a brutal, crowd-pleasing war that Forbidden Door crowds absolutely love. Both men leave everything in the ring every single time.
AEW Forbidden Door Videos
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