Injuries and Visa Issues Disrupted NJPW Talent Plans for AEW Forbidden Door, Including Callum Newman

AEW Forbidden Door came and went last Sunday, but the card that fans saw wasn’t quite the one Tony Khan had envisioned. In the days surrounding the pay-per-view, Khan acknowledged publicly that a combination of injuries and visa complications had forced changes to the lineup, pulling several NJPW talents from their originally planned spots on the show.

Among those affected was Callum Newman, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Newman had been penciled in for a role at Forbidden Door before circumstances beyond AEW’s control intervened. The specifics of what was originally planned for Newman and other NJPW talents were revealed in subsequent reporting, though exactly how those bookings would have shaped the card remains a tantalizing what-if for fans of both promotions.

Forbidden Door has served as one of the flagship crossover events in professional wrestling since its debut, giving AEW and NJPW a shared stage to present talent from both rosters in high-profile matchups. When key figures — especially a champion of Newman’s caliber — are pulled from the equation, it inevitably reshapes the entire creative landscape around the event.

The visa issue in particular is a recurring challenge for international wrestling events, and it’s not the first time NJPW talents have been unable to make the trip to the United States due to travel or documentation complications. Whether Newman and any of the other originally planned participants will get another opportunity to appear at a future AEW-NJPW collaboration remains to be seen, but the interest is clearly there on both sides.