As All Elite Wrestling's residency in the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois drew to a close with the July 31 episode of "AEW Collision,"the company started putting together the card for the Forbidden Door pay-per-view on August 24 by announcing two huge championship matches.
The first was Swerve Strickland challenging Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Unified Championship, with the two men getting in each other's business ever since All In Texas. Swerve put out the challenge after growing tired of seeing Okada hide behind the likes of The Young Bucks and Don Callis, vowing to make The O2 Arena in London, England his house. Okada and Callis responded by saying that Swerve has no class, but are up for a fight come August 24, leading to Okada accepting the challenge.
Shortly after, ROH Women's World Champion Athena explained that why she didn't execute her contract for a guaranteed AEW Women's World Championship match on the July 30 episode of "AEW Dynamite," despite pinning the champion, "Timeless" Toni Storm, after delivering an O-Face. Athena said that she doesn't respect the champion and finally realized just how easy it was to get the better of the champion, but wanted to not only get her shot at Storm on her terms, but wanted to beat her on a much bigger stage where people could finally give her the flowers she feels like she deserves. She rounded out by saying that she will be executing her contract for Forbidden Door, with the match between Athena and Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship being made official immediately after.
These matches join the already confirmed AEW Tag Team Championship match that will see The Hurt Syndicate defend their crowns against either FTR, The Young Bucks, or Brodido, with many more matches featuring the stars of AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling set to be announced in the coming weeks.
