Rumored Original 2026 Women's Owen Hart Cup Tournament Plans

We're days away from the crowning of new Owen Hart Cup tournament winners in AEW.

This Sunday at Forbidden Door, both the men's and women's tournament finals take place, and AEW fans will know who the world title challengers will be for the All In event at Wembley Stadium later this summer.

In the men's tournament, Will Ospreay will face Swerve Strickland in the tournament finals. Both men had a war of words with each other during last week's episode of AEW Dynamite. On Sunday, the two stars will collide with a world title on the line.

For the women, Mercedes Mone will challenge Maya World in the tournament finals. Neither woman was originally scheduled to be a part of the event when the brackets were announced a handful of weeks ago.

Mone took the place of Willow Nightingale, who was the TBS Champion, but an injured shoulder not only forced her to vacate the title but also removed her from the tournament field. As for Maya World, she took the place of Sareee, who was also not medically cleared for action after being announced in the bracket. World has gone an underdog run and defeated ROH Women's World Champion, Athena, to reach the finals.

Original plans would've led to a different summer in AEW

"Timeless" Toni Storm | Ricky Havlik - All Elite Wrestling

A new report from the Wrestling Observer revealed the original plans for the women's tournament. The report indicates that Toni Storm was the planned winner this year. She would have gone on to face Thekla for the AEW Women's World Championship at All In. Near the beginning of 2026, Storm took a hiatus from AEW and hasn't been on television since.

The Storm hiatus forced AEW to rework creative plans. The reworked plans for the tournament reportedly called for Nightingale to win and face Thekla at All In. When Nightingale was injured, the entire plan changed again.

AEW Forbidden Door will air live on PPV on Sunday night. Other announced matches for the show include Adam Copeland and Christian Cage vs. The Dogs for the AEW Men's World Tag Team Championships, Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr, and a huge six-man tag team war between Team MJF and Team Mark Briscoe inside of a steel cage. If Briscoe's team wins the match, he will earn a world title shot.

In the women's division, Thekla will defend her AEW Women's World Championship against Stardom's Starlight Kid.

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