Will Ospreay defeated Swerve Strickland in a bloody war to win the 2026 men’s AEW Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
The main event of the 2026 AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door saw Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland compete in the finals of the men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Ospreay walked into the match with a disadvantage as Strickland was undefeated against him in singles competition. Until tonight!
The match was tense from the start as both stars wanted to earn an AEW World Championship match at All In: London in August. It featured some brutal spots and multiple near falls. One such moment saw Will Ospreay landing hard on the apron after missing a hurricanrana attempt on Swerve Strickland and getting busted open.
However, Swerve Strickland also wore the crimson mask later in the match as his head connected hard with the sharp edge of the steel steps when Will Ospreay swung him against it outside the ring. Both stars fought through the pain and left pools of blood all over the ringside, but still kept on going.
After a series of ultra-close near falls, Jon Moxley and the Death Riders came out to support Will Ospreay, and their encouragement proved to be the fuel Ospreay needed. He performed a Buckshot Hidden Blade on Strickland, who still kicked out. However, a fired-up Osprey followed it up with a Paradigm Shift, Death Rider DDT, and Tiger Driver combination to finally get the pinfall.
He celebrated with the Death Riders and his wife, Alex Windsor, after the match, and will now get to compete at Wembley Stadium in front of his hometown crowd for the AEW World Championship at All In.
Read More: Swerve Strickland Pays Tribute to DC’s Lobo at AEW Forbidden Door
