Major Star Returns To AEW After Over A Year At Forbidden Door 2026 (AEW News)

After 15 months off TV, Jay White returned at Forbidden Door.

by Andrew Pollard
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 Jay White
AEW

Having been absent for over a year, Jay White made his shocking AEW return at last night's Forbidden Door event.

Switchblade made that return as the Dogs took on Adam Copeland and Christian Cage for the AEW Tag Team Titles. There, the arena lights went out, as the Bang Bang Gang's Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Juice Robinson, and Ace Austin appeared on the stage, all as David Finlay was about to hit Copeland with a shillelagh. With Finlay staring at that quartet, Jay White was stood behind him and promptly dropped the fourth-generation star with the Blade Runner.

Jay White last appeared on AEW programming back in April 2025, where he was attacked by the Death Riders as a way to write him off TV so that the New Zealander could get surgery for a hand injury. Interestingly, that attack also took White out of the Owen Hart Cup tournament, which allowed Kevin Knight to take his place and start his own rise up the ranks.

In terms of in-ring, Jay last wrestled on the 29th March, 2025 episode of Collision, where he picked up a win against the one and the same Kevin Knight. So, that makes it 15 months since the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion's most recent match.

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Speaking at the post-Forbidden Door media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan revealed that Jay White got cleared for a return to the ring earlier this week, stating that he saw Forbidden Door and David Finlay as the perfect spot for Jay to return. Both White and Finlay are former Bullet Club leaders, with Finlay attacking White and taking over from him in that role back in 2023.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.