Rob Van Dam Says This AEW Forbidden Door Spot Is A No From Him, Bro

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’s AEW Theme Replaced Due To Past Tensions With Action Bronson

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 Credits This WWE Name With Basically ‘Creating’ Him

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.

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AEW Dynamite – 8/27/2025: 3 Things We Loved And 3 Things We Hated

As someone who will always have a place in his heart for the chaotic world of ECW, the August 27 episode of “AEW Dynamite” was right up my street. A show that was so ECW-coded that, if you listened closely, you could hear Tony Khan backstage doing his best Paul Heyman impression by writing down the card for this Saturday’s “AEW Collision” on a napkin. However, a show in the 2300 Arena wouldn’t be complete without a bit of hardcore action, and there is no one better at producing high-quality, “Oh My God, he’s dead” matches than Darby Allin.

Darby has virtually mastered his own genre of match, “Darby Death.” The way it works is Darby throws himself around the arena like a human pinball, takes an ungodly amount of punishment, bumps that even the legends of ECW would look at and go “Yeah, I’m already not getting paid, so I’m definitely not doing that,” before fighting from underneath to get the underdog victory. It’s perhaps one of the best formulas in all of wrestling right now, as it is incredibly entertaining, and for the people who don’t like the guy due to all of the things he’s been accused of in the past, the sight of him getting murdered in real time is something that they can cheer for as well.

This Falls Count Anywhere match with Claudio Castagnoli already had high expectations, given their pair of matches from late 2024 being excellent, and the fact that when he’s paired with someone much bigger than him, Darby will go above and beyond to make his opponent look like an absolute killer. That’s exactly what happened with this one, as right from the jump, Darby leaps off the top of what looked to be a shipping container to kick things off, and 20 seconds later, he is launched “Jackass” style into a sea of chairs from a shopping cart, before being slammed through a flatscreen TV.

When they finally get into the 2300 Arena, Darby and Claudio make great use of the surroundings by having Darby climb one of the building’s support beams for a Coffin Drop, and by having Claudio do his best Bam Bam Bigelow impression by launching Darby out of the ring and through the announce table. Back in ECW, Spike Dudley would have been caught by a sea of fans, but in AEW, Darby Allin gets caught by an announce desk that Excalibur keeps trying to convince me is solid oak, but I’m just not buying it, dude, I’m sorry, it’s too flimsy.

There were weapons galore, the ringside area looked like a tornado ran through it, and after making Claudio look as strong as he’s ever been, Darby gets the win to wrap up the show-long story of him wanting to face Jon Moxley at All Out. One of the most entertaining TV matches of the year so far, Darby Allin is back in AEW, and he’s only going to get crazier from here.

Written by Sam Palmer