"Should have just released him," "And the crowd goes mild" - Fans erupt after Wardlow makes huge AEW return at Forbidden Door 2025

One of AEW's most popular names, Wardlow, finally made his return to programming this Sunday at Forbidden Door 2025. Fans have now shared their reactions to Mr. Mayhem's explosive comeback and to the revelation of his new alliance.

Wardlow was last seen in action inside an All Elite Wrestling ring at Dynamite: Big Business last year, where he unsuccessfully challenged AEW World Champion Samoa Joe for his belt. He has been on a long hiatus since April 2024, with a recent report claiming that the star has been on the mend from the effects of a labrum injury and a subsequent vehicular accident. A TV role the former TNT Champion secured earlier this year also supposedly contributed to his absence.

Wardlow finally made his All Elite comeback this Sunday at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, after Kazuchika Okada retained his Unified Championship against Swerve Strickland. The War Dog showed up to blindside and ambush Prince Nana while The Realest watched on helplessly, with his feet trapped behind the ringside steel steps. He also seemingly joined forces with Don Callis and his ever-expanding "family".

Fans quickly gathered on X/Twitter to share their reactions to Wardlow's All Elite Wrestling return. Although a number of users were ecstatic about seeing the 37-year-old back on screen, some expressed their frustrations about him being added to the already-stacked Don Callis Family instead of being pushed as a singles star.

It remains to be seen what lies next for Wardlow in All Elite Wrestling.

Other members of the Don Callis Family were in action at AEW Forbidden Door

The Don Callis Family has been steadily growing in strength over the past year. Multiple members of the group have found great success in All Elite Wrestling and elsewhere, including the acquisition of championship gold. Some of these athletes were in action this Sunday at AEW Forbidden Door.

Two relatively newer members of the faction, Hechicero and Josh Alexander, teamed with CRU during the Zero Hour pre-show ahead of the August 24 pay-per-view, but were unfortunately unable to defeat El Desperado, Yuya Uemura and Paragon's Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly in an eight-person tag bout.

Later on the main card, however, Kyle Fletcher had better luck as he retained his TNT Championship against NJPW's Hiromu Takahashi. Furthermore, even though he did not have a match at Forbidden Door, 2025 G1 Climax winner Konosuke Takeshita made an appearance at the event to stare down and seemingly welcome the returning Wardlow into the Don Callis Family.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee