AEW’s road to All In London 2026 has taken several unexpected turns, and a new report sheds light on just how different the original vision looked.
Plans had Toni Storm winning the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament and going on to challenge Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In London. Those plans unraveled after Storm went on hiatus in March due to undisclosed injuries, with word at the time indicating she would be out for an extended period.
With Storm unavailable, the booking pivoted to Thekla defending against Willow Nightingale. That match never came together either — Nightingale subsequently suffered her own injury, forcing her to vacate the TBS Championship and withdraw from the Owen Hart Tournament entirely.
The cascading setbacks have left AEW reshaping the All In match on the fly. As things currently stand, the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament final will take place at Forbidden Door on June 28, with Mercedes Mone facing Maya World. Mone advanced by defeating Hazuki, while Maya World punched her ticket by knocking out Athena. The winner of that match will go on to face Thekla for the Women’s World Championship at All In London.
It’s worth noting some history in play here: last year’s Owen Hart Women’s final saw Mone defeat Jamie Hayter, and she subsequently challenged Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In, coming up short in that contest.
The situation underscores how fragile long-term booking can be in professional wrestling. Two separate injury situations have now reshaped what was originally a clear creative path, and with the Forbidden Door final set, AEW is counting on whoever emerges from that match to carry the momentum into one of the promotion’s biggest events of the year.
Reporting and match coverage produced by the PW Exclusive team. Articles under this byline are drafted with AI assistance and reviewed before publication — see our editorial standards for how we work.
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