Hiroshi Tanahashi Scores Pinfall, Wins Wild AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 Main Event

AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling's Forbidden Door pay-per-view technically ended when Hangman Page retained the AEW World Championship against MJF, but there was still one more match to take place. The Lights Out Unsanctioned Steel Cage match saw The Young Bucks and The Death Riders take on the team of Darby Allin, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi in one of the most violent matches in recent history, but after all was said and done, it was Tanahashi, Allin, Ospreay, Omega, and Ibushi who left London with the blood-soaked victory.

After the introductions that saw Ospreay get a video package narrated by his fiancée Alex Windsor, The Young Bucks enter to their first-ever entrance song, "MMMBop" by Hanson, and The Death Riders once again enter through the crowd, the action got under way. Darby immediately went after Jon Moxley, while Gabe Kidd rushed Ospreay on the outside. Tanahashi was able to get the better of Claudio Castagnoli and the Bucks, and despite his very well known neck problems, Ospreay was able to land on his feet after hitting a Sasuke Special.

After Darby took out Moxley and Claudio, The Golden Lovers and The Young Bucks exchanged strikes for the first time since their time in NJPW back in 2018, with Omega and Ibushi getting the better of them. To make sure Moxley couldn't get away, Darby handcuffed himself to the former AEW World Champion, while Omega revived his feud with Kidd from earlier in the year, only for Matt and Nick Jackson to interrupt. Nick pulled out the bag that he ordered the production team backstage to fill with the most dangerous weapons they could find, but it turned out to be a bag full of Gummi Bears, with Nick being Bulldogged into the bears by Tanahashi. Matt was then given a mouthful of the bears by Omega and Ibushi who went for the first pinfall attempt of the match.

The real plunder started coming out when Matt and Nick used a ladder to take out the opposition, with Darby and Ospreay being the first men to be busted open. However, Ospreay is able to counter Matt and Nick's ladder attack and went to wrap a chair around Moxley's neck in the same way that Moxley did to him at All In Texas, but Kidd intercepted the attack with a vicious Piledriver. The Bucks and the Death Riders were back on top, targeting Omega and Ibushi next, before Darby tried to make the save, but was Gorilla Pressed out of the ring and into the cage wall by Claudio. Finally, it was Tanahashi to fight off the opposition, and he faired much better than his partners, but was eventually spiked with a DDT from Moxley.

Darby was then taped to a chair and forced to withstand Moxley piercing his ear with a fork, before getting powerslammed by Claudio while still taped to the chair. The Death Riders started to rearrange the furniture, both in the cage and outside as tables, ladders, and barbed wire were brought into play. Tanahashi was able to get some momentum back for his team but was taken out by Claudio and The Bucks, who hit the newly renamed "BTE Trigger." However, Ospreay made the save on the cover, shielding Tanahashi with his own, but Moxley grabbed Ospreay by the neck, only for Moxley to be bull rushed into the barbed wire table.

Omega gets himself back in the match with a Snap Dragon Suplex to everyone in sight while Ibushi helped out, and was successful with a Terminator dive to the outside. Tanahashi wanted to climb to the top of the cage but was talked down by his teammates, but Ospreay wasn't despite his condition, and landed a huge moonsault from the top of the cage to the floor. With The Death Riders and The Bucks down outside, Kidd and Omega exchanged strikes in the center, with Omega getting the better of the exchange. Everyone manages to get a move in, with the sequence finishing with Ospreay hitting a Styles Clash before being joined by Omega for a Hidden Blade/V-Trigger combo.

The apron becomes its own arena as Tanahashi, Ibushi, Claudio and The Bucks are taken out on the edge of the ring while Omega takes out Moxley in the ring. Omega hits the One-Winged Angel which is broken up by everyone. Once he recovers, Moxley climbs up the cage to try and get Wheeler Yuta inside, but he's cut off by Darby, and Yuta plummets through the Japanese announce table. Darby and Moxley, now outside of the cage make their way to the entrance ramp where four tables have been stacked on top of each other. Darby sandwiches Moxley in between the tables, but Marina Shafir pulls him out of harms way as Darby was about to jump. Kidd gets to the top just in time to stop the disaster, but both Darby and Kidd fall from the top of the cage, through the tables, to the floor.

Back in the cage, Ibushi and Claudio are the only ones healthy enough to stay standing. Omega gets in and hits a V-Trigger, while Ospreay hits a Stormbreaker. Nick gets hit with a Golden Trigger while Matt eats a Hidden Blade, before being perched on Omega's shoulders for a One-Winged Angel/Hidden Blade combo. Finally, Tanahashi, in his final match in the United Kingdom, ascended to the top rope to hit the High Fly Flow that won his team the win. After the match is over, Tanahashi, Ibushi, Omega, and Ospreay raise each other's hands in the ring before Omega and Ibushi help Darby to his feet. Ospreay was then left alone in the ring to soak in the applause, with Ospreay saying "I'm going to miss you guys."