Tony Khan Opens Up About the Booking Complexities Behind AEW Forbidden Door

Putting together Forbidden Door is never a straightforward task, and Tony Khan is well aware of the logistical puzzle it presents each year. Speaking with Q93 Radio ahead of Sunday’s pay-per-view, Khan addressed the inherent challenges that come with coordinating a multi-promotion supershow of this scale.

What started as a partnership between AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling has grown considerably over time. Forbidden Door now brings together talent from four promotions — AEW, NJPW, CMLL, and Stardom — each with their own schedules, rosters, travel considerations, and creative directions. Aligning all of those moving parts into a single cohesive card is, by any measure, a significant undertaking.

Khan’s comments reflect the reality of running an event that is unlike anything else on the annual wrestling calendar. Matching talent across different companies and continents means negotiations, availability windows, and booking logic all have to line up simultaneously. Where a standard AEW pay-per-view gives Khan full control over the card from top to bottom, Forbidden Door requires buy-in and coordination from multiple organizations.

Despite those hurdles, the event has established itself as one of the most anticipated shows of the year for in-ring wrestling fans. The blend of AEW’s homegrown stars with NJPW’s roster — and now the added flavor of CMLL and Stardom competitors — gives Forbidden Door a unique identity that no other promotion can replicate.

With the show set for Sunday, fans won’t have long to wait to see how all those booking decisions ultimately play out on the night.