Jay White finally made his long-awaited return at AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door. The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion returned after more than one year away. His surprise appearance quickly became one of the night’s biggest moments.
White had not wrestled since early 2025. He returned during the AEW World Tag Team Championship match which saw Adam Copeland and Christian Cage defended against David Finlay and Clark Connors.
Near the end of the match, the lights suddenly went out. The Bang Bang Gang appeared on the entrance ramp. White then suddenly appeared in the ring and attacked Finlay and changed everything quickly. Copeland followed with a Spear for the victory.
Tony Khan reveals Jay White was cleared this week
Speaking on the AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door media scrum, Tony Khan explained why the event fit White’s comeback perfectly.
“I thought Forbidden Door was the perfect place for him to make his return, given how he arrived here in the first place, and given the way he was exited from New Japan Pro-Wrestling and then David Finlay, while he was gone, arrived into AEW. It just tied everything together perfectly.”
Khan also revealed White was only cleared very recently and the company had been hoping everything worked out.
“Jay White actually just officially got cleared this week so this was something we were hoping he was gonna get cleared and he has just been physically cleared and it’s huge excitement so this was something we were hoping and aiming towards and working for and it came out and worked perfectly.” [H/T: Fightful]
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