AEW Unveils Round Steel Cage for 12-Man Main Event at Forbidden Door 2026

AEW is pulling out something genuinely new for its 2026 co-promoted event with NJPW. Forbidden Door will feature a circular steel cage — a design never before seen in the company — as the backdrop for a massive 12-man main event match.

The bout is set up as Team Briscoe versus Team MJF. Representing Team Briscoe are Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Konosuke Takeshita, and Darby Allin — a lineup that blends AEW roster mainstays with one of the promotion’s biggest crossover stars in Takeshita. MJF leads the opposing squad, though the full composition of his team has not yet been confirmed beyond his own involvement.

The round cage structure is the real talking point here. Traditional steel cage matches in American wrestling have almost universally used a four-sided or six-sided design, so a circular build would mark a notable visual and structural departure for AEW. The format lends itself well to the kind of spectacle AEW and NJPW have leaned into at Forbidden Door since the event’s debut, where the card typically aims to deliver something fans can’t find anywhere else.

Forbidden Door has become one of the more anticipated dates on AEW’s annual calendar, blending the two promotions’ rosters in ways that produce unexpected combinations and high-profile matches. A 12-man cage main event with this caliber of talent on both sides, inside a never-before-seen structure, sets up the 2026 edition as one of the more ambitious installments yet.