Tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite has been recorded in advance from the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, and we know in advance based on spoilers (full results here) that there are a lot of changes made to the card for the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event.
According to those spoilers, courtesy of PWInsider, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage cut an in-ring promo when they are informed that Nick Wayne has been pulled from their match due to a broken foot. Instead, teaming with Kip Sabian will be Luchasaurus, who returns and takes out both Cage and Cope.
FTR and Brodido fight to a time limit draw in their eliminator tournament final, meaning The Hurt Syndicate will actually face both teams in a three-way for the AEW World Tag Team Championship instead. This makes it much harder for Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin to retain their titles, as they can lose their belts without even being pinned. For yours truly's perspective, that feels to me like the plan, as I can fully expect Bandido or Brody King to lose to Dax Harwood or Cash Wheeler so Lashley and Benjamin don't technically lose and can spin that into a rematch to stretch this out a bit. It gives FTR a heel way to win the titles, in a sense, too.
On top of this, MJF beats down Mark Briscoe with some help from The Gates of Agony and Ricochet. He then threatens to light Briscoe on fire unless "Hangman" Adam Page agrees to some requests for changes to their AEW World Championship match. Those concessions are that the title can change hands on a disqualification or count-out, and that MJF does not have to execute his Casino Gauntlet contract in order to have this title match.
This means even if MJF loses this match, he'll still be able to retain the ability to cash in for a random title match whenever he wants, which sets up the idea that Page won't be able to get rid of that looming threat so easily. Page can win this match, only to have MJF steal the title at some point in the future anyway.
If all of these things are indeed confirmed later on during the broadcast, then that brings the updated lineup for the Forbidden Door card to the following matches:
- Lights Out Steel Cage Match: Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi), Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Will Ospreay vs. Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Jon Moxley), The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson), & Gabe Kidd
- Three-Way Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) (c) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) vs. Brodido (Bandido & Brody King)
- Singles Match for the AEW Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Swerve Strickland
- Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship: "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) vs. Athena
- Four-Way Match for the AEW TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Alex Windsor (AEW) vs. Persephone (CMLL) vs. TBD (Stardom)
- Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship: Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi (NJPW)
- Singles Match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness (AEW)
- Singles Match for the AEW World Championship: "Hangman" Adam Page (c) vs. MJF
- Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. The Matriarchy (Kip Sabian & Luchasaurus)
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is set to go down this Sunday, August 24, 2025 starting at 11:30am ET with the Zero Hour pre-show and the main card starting at 1pm ET.
Tell us your thoughts about these changes and the updated card in the comments below!