Will Ospreay Wins the Owen Hart Tournament and Earns His Shot at the AEW World Title at Wembley

In a bloody and grueling 35-minute main event at AEW Forbidden Door 2026 in San Jose, Will Ospreay outlasted Swerve Strickland to claim the Men's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament and set up a massive title match at All In.

Forbidden Door 2026: The Setup and the Stakes

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door has established itself as one of the most anticipated events on the professional wrestling calendar, a pay-per-view that brings together talent from two major promotions and produces the kind of dream matchups that fill arenas and generate genuinely passionate fan investment. The 2026 edition, held June 28 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, had a clear centerpiece: the final of the Men's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, pitting Will Ospreay against Swerve Strickland in a match the wrestling world had been anticipating for weeks.

The Owen Hart Foundation Tournament is one of AEW's most meaningful annual traditions, a bracket competition held to honor the memory of the late Owen Hart, with the winner earning a shot at the AEW World Championship at one of the promotion's marquee events. In 2026, that marquee event is All In, returning to Wembley Stadium in London on August 30. Winning the tournament means a title shot on one of professional wrestling's biggest stages, which gave the Ospreay-Strickland final genuine weight beyond what either man's storyline alone could carry.

MJF held the AEW World Championship heading into Forbidden Door, and the understanding going into the tournament final was clear: whoever won would face Friedman in London for the title. Both Ospreay and Strickland had everything to gain, and the match delivered on every bit of that stated stakes.

The Main Event: A 35-Minute War

What Ospreay and Strickland produced in San Jose was the kind of main event that becomes part of a promotion's highlight reel for years. The match ran 35 minutes and became increasingly physical as both competitors escalated. By the later stages both men were bloodied and had absorbed multiple finishing maneuvers, with neither willing to stay down. The sequence of near-falls in the final stretch genuinely tested the crowd's sense of inevitability, which is the highest compliment you can pay a professional wrestling match.

Jon Moxley and the Death Riders appeared at ringside during the later stages of the contest, providing support for Ospreay and adding another layer of intensity to the proceedings. Despite the interference presence, the story of the match remained Ospreay and Strickland trading everything they had. Ospreay ultimately secured the victory with a succession of finishing maneuvers including a Paradigm Shift and a Tiger Driver, pinning Strickland after what coverage uniformly described as an empty-the-clip performance from both competitors.

With the win, Ospreay earned his spot in the Wembley main event. He will challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship at All In on August 30, a match that pits two of the most technically accomplished performers in professional wrestling today against each other on one of the sport's biggest stages. That matchup had been discussed as a dream scenario for months; it is now scheduled.

The Rest of the Card: Mone, Moxley, Omega, and More

While the Ospreay-Strickland main event was the clear centerpiece of Forbidden Door 2026, the rest of the card delivered its own significant moments. Mercedes Mone won the Women's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament for the second consecutive year, defeating Maya World in the tournament final after 24 minutes and 56 seconds. The win made Mone the only competitor in the tournament's history to claim consecutive victories, cementing her status as one of AEW's most decorated and consistent performers in 2026.

Jon Moxley retained the AEW Continental Championship against Bandido in a hard-hitting contest that ran over 18 minutes. Kenny Omega returned to the kind of technical showcase he built his reputation on, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. in a 26-minute match that multiple post-show reviews identified as a highlight of the entire event. Jay White returned to action after over a year away, assisting Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in defending their tag titles, a moment that drew a strong reaction from the San Jose crowd.

Mark Briscoe also earned a future AEW World Championship opportunity after winning a six-on-six cage match during the evening. With Ospreay's All In title shot set and Briscoe's future shot secured, AEW's championship picture heading into the summer has a clear shape. The promotion also confirmed that AEW All Out 2026 will return to Chicago, giving fans another major event on the calendar to anticipate alongside the Wembley show.

What the Forbidden Door Result Means for AEW's Summer

Will Ospreay challenging MJF at Wembley Stadium in front of a sold-out British crowd is the kind of main event that benefits from the specific location. Ospreay spent years in the United Kingdom building his career and his fanbase before his move to North American wrestling, and a Wembley title match carries a different energy for him than it might for most other performers. The All In crowd, historically one of the loudest and most engaged in professional wrestling, will be fully invested in this outcome.

For AEW, the Forbidden Door result sets up a compelling August with multiple storylines running simultaneously. Ospreay's title shot, Mone's continued dominance in the women's division, and the ongoing questions around other roster members including Jack Perry's contract situation and the possibility of additional signings all give the promotion a rich set of narratives to work with heading into late summer.

If you want to experience professional wrestling at its highest level and feel what it is like to train in the discipline that underpins what you watch, Piledrive Wrestling in Las Vegas offers classes for beginners and experienced performers alike. Come to a show, come to the gym, and be part of what we are building here.

7 Reasons AEW All In at Wembley Is the Must-Watch Event of Late Summer 2026

Ospreay vs. MJF at Wembley Stadium on August 30 is already one of the most anticipated matches of the year. Here is why the event as a whole deserves your full attention.

1. Will Ospreay challenging for the AEW World Championship: Ospreay earned his Wembley title shot through a tournament final that multiple reviews called one of the best matches of the year. He arrives with significant momentum and a deeply invested British fanbase cheering him on from the opening bell.
2. MJF defending in front of a crowd mostly cheering against him: Maxwell Jacob Friedman is one of professional wrestling's most compelling performers. Defending a championship he has worked hard to establish as meaningful, in a venue that will be mostly rooting against him, is exactly the scenario where he tends to deliver his most memorable work.
3. Wembley Stadium as a venue for professional wrestling: All In at Wembley has already proven it can produce an electric atmosphere. The previous event set a British professional wrestling attendance record and created a template for what a major outdoor wrestling event can feel like when the crowd is fully engaged and the stakes are real.
4. Mercedes Mone carrying momentum from her second Owen Hart victory: The two-time Owen Hart Tournament winner comes into All In with the kind of momentum that shapes major events. Her continued presence at the top of the women's division adds significantly to the overall card quality.
5. Multiple Forbidden Door storylines carrying forward to London: Jay White's return, Jon Moxley's Continental Championship reign, and the various narratives from the June 28 show will all carry forward to Wembley, giving the event a full card with depth rather than a single match to carry the evening.
6. The possibility of new signings before the event: Reports circulating after Forbidden Door suggest additional talent moves could be announced before All In. If any high-profile signings are confirmed in July, the card's scope gets even more compelling heading into August.
7. AEW's track record on major events in 2026: After a Forbidden Door that multiple outlets graded among the promotion's best pay-per-views, AEW enters All In with genuine momentum. The promotion has shown this year that it can deliver when the stage is at its biggest.

← More from the Piledrive Wrestling blog