Original Plans For AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026

It has been officially announced that AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door will take place on Sunday, June 28 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, with the pay-per-view returning to its usual spot on the calendar of the final weekend of June after one year on the August bank holiday weekend in the United Kingdom in 2025.

While the show will be taking place in San Jose, that wasn't the original plan. According to Bodyslam, All Elite Wrestling originally wanted to hold Forbidden Door in Chicago, but the date was too close to the opening night of NJPW's G1 Climax 36 at Chicago's NOW Arena on July 11.

AEW waited until this week to make the announcement of Forbidden Door, according to Bodyslam, due to WWE holding SmackDown at the SAP Center on April 10. WWE often have a clause in arena contracts which prevents a rival promotion from announcing their own event at the building until after the WWE show.

Forbidden Door will be going head-to-head with TNA's Slammiversary pay-per-view, which is also taking place on Saturday, June 28 at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. There have recently been issues between AEW and TNA, with TNA President Carlos Silva pulling wrestlers from matches against AEW talents at independent wrestling events due to the official reason of "partner conflicts."

Silva was also reportedly unhappy about AEW Collision airing against TNA Thursday Night IMPACT on April 2, after Collision was pre-empted by Warner Bros. Discovery due to TNT's coverage of March Madness. The same thing will happen again tonight with AEW Collision Spring BreakThru.