AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025’s main event saw a few brutal spots, but the violence was sandwiched with a hilarious gummy bear spot involving The Young Bucks. While fans chuckled in the midst of all the madness, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T didn’t see the lighter side of the moment.

During the Lights Out Steel Cage match, The Young Bucks emptied a bag onto the mat hoping for thumbacks, but were greeted by gummy bears instead. On his “Hall of Fame” show, Booker T’s co-host Brad Gilmore narrated the spot to Booker T, who had a pertinent question.

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The question is, did they sell the gummy bears?” asked Booker T.

After Gilmore informed the Hall of Famer that the duo had sold the spot and put them in their mouths, Booker T responded with a “wow” before explaining how such spots turn him off from watching AEW.

“Look here, I’ve said it before. AEW is trying to change the way people look at professional wrestling. I really don’t look at AEW as, you know … you asked me if I watched it. No, I didn’t watch it because it’s that right there is perhaps one of the reasons I would not watch an AEW show. I can honestly sit here and tell you right now that I’ve never watched the AEW show. I’ve watched bits and pieces, but a lot of that has been on the internet. I’ve never sat and watched the show because of stuff like that. Like I said, me, personally, I don’t want to change the way people look at professional wrestling because it is a beautiful, beautiful sport. Beautiful art when you look at it properly.”

The Hall of Famer shared that he recently watched the Broadway play “Hamilton,” which almost brought him to tears, an emotion he believes AEW could never evoke in him.

Forbidden Door 2025 saw AEW and NJPW stars combine to put on an exciting show, and one NJPW star who was a part of the main event, Gabe Kidd, could feature more on AEW television going forward.

Kidd joined forces with Death Riders’ Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli, as well as The Young Bucks, in the 10-man Lights Out Steel Cage match last weekend. Even though he was on the losing side, Kidd has something to cheer about as he is reportedly set to feature more on AEW television and could also permanently join the Death Riders, as per “Self Made PW.”

“NJPW wrestler Gabriel Kidd was seen backstage at AEW Dynamite in the 2300 Arena. Kidd remains a member of the NJPW roster but is expected to continue to make appearances for AEW. He is considered at this point to be a permanent member of the Death Riders and was spotted training with them today at TV.”

Self Made Report:

NJPW wrestler Gabriel Kidd was seen backstage at AEW Dynamite in the 2300 Arena.

Kidd remains a member of the NJPW roster but is expected to continue to make appearances for AEW. He is considered at this point to be a permanent member of the Death Riders and… pic.twitter.com/zfTE9GNidS

— Self Made 💫 (@SelfMadePW) August 27, 2025

Kidd appeared at the end of this week’s “AEW Dynamite,” ambushing and attacking Darby Allin after the latter’s match with Claudio Castagnoli. The current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion has made a handful of appearances on AEW television since his debut in the promotion last year. If the report is to be believed, Kidd has seemingly changed his stance on AEW and working with the promotion. Last December, he had vehemently denied any interest in signing with AEW, even going so far as to call NJPW’s relationship with the company “embarrassing.” The British star alleged that AEW took more than they gave back in the partnership between the two promotions.

With his ongoing feud with Allin and his partnership with Death Riders growing, AEW fans can expect to see more of Kidd in the weeks and months to follow.

WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has commented on the gory fork spot at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, stating that he’s not in favor of spots.

At Forbidden Door in London, England, Darby Allin had a fork struck through his ear by Jon Moxley in the 10-man Steel Cage Lights Out match that main evented the show. After watching a snippet of the spot during a live YouTube show, RVD said that he was not a fan of it, even though he acknowledged that some fans may want to see it.

“It’s a no for me, bro. Yeah, it’s a no for me, dog. You know, that just turns me off,” he said. “I don’t want to see it, you know. But, obviously, there are wrestlers who do want to do that, who want to express themselves that way, and fans who do want to see it.”

RVD also added that there’s a difference between the death matches that have become commonplace in modern wrestling, to what he, Taz, and co. did in ECW three decades ago. 

“And these are some of the same fans, by the way, who are blaming me, who are hating on me. Some of these same fans can’t understand how me and Taz — I think Dreamer might have even said this — how we’re not fans of the gross death matches that don’t involve wrestling, just because we’re ECW. So how could that be, right? We went over that before, and it blew the fans’ minds. But these are the same fans who think that if you grow up eating meat and then become a vegetarian, what does that make you? A hypocrite. That’s what a hypocrite is, to the basic thinkers.”

This isn’t the first time RVD has been critical of a grisly AEW spot, as he classified Moxley’s spiked bat spot earlier this year as “not wrestling.”

Hook made a surprise return to AEW on this week’s “AEW Dynamite,” but there was a slight change to his presentation as he debuted a new in-ring song. The young AEW star has moved away from his Action Bronson theme song, and a report has highlighted the reason for the change.

The former AEW FTW Champion’s new theme is called “So Tell The Girls I Am Back In Town” by Jay Jay Johanson, which was released way back in 1996. As per “Fightful Select,” Action Bronson’s disparaging comments about AEW, calling the backstage environment “weird,” played a part in AEW moving away from Hook’s original theme, “The Chairman’s Intent.” The report claims that AEW’s relationship with Bronson has been ironed out, but the promotion had already decided to switch Hook’s theme song. The report further revealed that AEW sources had informed them in January that AEW’s rights to use the Bronson theme had expired in January.

AEW had teased Hook’s return on the August 13 edition of “Dynamite,” with the Jay Jay Johanson song playing in the background. 

Hook’s return took place at the iconic 2300 Arena in Philadelphia — a venue dear to his father, former wrestler Taz — where he confronted and attacked Death Riders’ Wheeler Yuta, seeking retribution after Yuta and the faction had sidelined him for months. The Opps, the faction Hook is part of, also had reason to celebrate as they defeated Ricochet and the Gates of Agony to retain their AEW World Trios Championship.

John Cena’s record-breaking WWE career has elevated him to — arguably — one of the greatest to have ever stepped in a WWE ring. However, Cena wasn’t always the superstar he is today, and during an interview appearance on “What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon,” the veteran credited the person he admits essentially gave him all the success he has in the industry today.

Reflecting on his career in 2006, Cena revealed that McMahon sat with him and helped him evolve past his persona both on and off camera. “If you hadn’t sat with John Cena then, I’d be… not only did you sit with me, you pretty much created [me],” he recalled. “If you ask me what I was born to do, my response in 2006 would be ‘I am a WWE Superstar. It is what I was born for.’ That’s… At 48? That’s not why I was born.”

Cena further reflected on what he calls “the forever question” — why we are born — and concluded that human beings are insignificant and that the key to life is finding beauty in the mundane things and ultimately making it significant. “You have been in my life and out of my life in places where I’ve needed you. You’ve told me exactly what I needed to hear,” Cena told McMahon. “You have been a mentor in my life with all the things that you shared and allowed me to learn from; every single thing you’ve said I’ve never not learned from.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.