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The day before Sunday's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door crossover event, the card was up to 12 matches, with another likely but not confirmed. As of Saturday's "AEW Collision," not only has that match been made official, but another has been added, take the show up to a total of 14 — tied for the second-largest card in AEW history.
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During "Collision," Katsuyori Shibata, HOOK, and Samoa Joe ambushed "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and "The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith, who still had his arm in a sling. The heel trio had been challenged to a six-man tag team match against Joe, HOOK, and Shibata at Forbidden Door, but Keith's injury — and Minoru Suzuki's mocking refusal to join the team on "AEW Dynamite" — had left the final participant uncertain. That changed after the brawl on "Collision" spilled into the ring, and NJPW World Television Champion Jeff Cobb suddenly appeared to even the odds on behalf of "The Learning Tree." Shortly thereafter, the contest was finally officially announced, with Cobb in place of Keith.
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As if that weren't enough, AEW CEO Tony Khan later added a four-way tag team match to the Zero Hour pre-show, bringing the number of pre-show matches up to four. House of Black (Malakai Black and Brody King, also known as Kings of the Black Throne) will face the teams of Kyle O'Reilly and Tomohiro Ishii, Roderick Strong and Gabe Kidd, and Private Party.
With 14 matches, Forbidden Door 2024 ties last year's inaugural WrestleDream event for second-highest total match count on an AEW card. Notably, Cobb had previously announced an open challenge for his world TV title at Forbidden Door — in the unlikely event this challenge still occurs, the show would tie All Out 2022 for most matches ever on an AEW PPV with 15.
