In the lead-up to his much-anticipated match with Anthony Bowens and Hiroshi Tanahashi against The Elite, Kazuchika Okada, and the Young Bucks at Forbidden Door, fans had a feeling hometown hero Max Caster would cut a big-time promo in his return to Long Island, but what would he say?

After taking Ls from the “Rainmaker” and company for weeks, with The Elite muting his microphone on multiple occasions to avoid his signature rhymes, clearly Caster had a bone to pick with the EVPs, but considering he's already been suspended on multiple occasions for his language, what would a PPV version of his rap gimmick look like after months of public shaming? Well, as it turns out, Caster took it to Okada and the Bucks, but not before taking shots at President Joe Biden and Justin Timberlake along the way first.

“The Acclaimed, rocking with the ‘Ace.’ The rap star, not afraid to rock you in the face. Sometimes, you gotta pop out, I’m showin ‘em. Leave ‘em out of breath like Biden at the podium. Yo, no debate. Get your mug shot on Long Island like Timberlake,” Max Caster announced during his pre-match rap at Forbidden Door.

“The Elite, we’re stopping it here. I’mma kill you, like you did Okada’s career. You’re pathetic really. On the mic, never witty. You’re such a p**sy, when I see you, I say, hello kitty. Such a pity when I’m rocking a rhyme, I make Okada my b**ch when I’m dropping a dime. Now on-air b**ch, blonde hair b**ch, beat you so bad, get a message chair, b**ch. Ugly-a** b**ch, you look like a b**ch, shout to the crew, leave 'em shook like a b**ch. Always won the hard way, I'mma beat your a** on the Cross-Island Parkway. Live from the hood that I claim, on Long Island, everybody loves The Acclaimed.”

Did Caster do a good job? The fans on Long Island certainly thought so, but while his team ultimately came up short in their contest, with the “Ace” of NJPW eating a Rainmaker for the L, Caster did land a consolation prize from… Fox News? That's right, because of his shots at Biden and Timberlake – but, let's be honest, mostly Biden – the right-wing news website decided to give him props, even if they aren't exactly regular reporters on AEW content or wrestling in general.

Now, to some, this publicity might not be something they are proud of, but for Caster, he opted to pass it along to AEW PR, letting his bosses know that he's earned them more press, even if the majority of the comments realized rather quickly that his post was meant in jest.

Could Caster lean into this notoriety moving forward? I mean, sure, anything's possible, but considering how leaning into right-wing politics has affected the careers of other performers in the past – Jack Swagger, anyone? – that feels incredibly unlikely.

TK: AEW is heading for a big media deal after Forbidden Door.

Speaking of AEW's connections to mainstream media organizations, Tony Khan recently stopped by the Wrestling Observer ahead of Forbidden Door to discuss the promotion's media rights contracts and let it be known that he believes a big deal is just over the horizon, be that with Warns Bros Discovery or another company.

“The most important key point is, for us, we've had historically strong numbers and maintained strong numbers in TV. That is the thing we need to do. Keep doing what we're doing because the numbers that we have are numbers people at TV would kill to have. I really need to focus on doing good shows for AEW, not about what the competition is doing,” Tony Khan told Dave Meltzer and company via Fightful.

“In this case, our competitor going out ahead of us and getting good media rights deals was a positive for us and is good for us because we have good historical comps. These comps are favorable for us. I've done a ton of market research, retained top analysts and data scientists. Most TV shows would kill for our ratings and demos. In sports, we skew really young. It's important to focus on that. I think it's going to be a really good summer for us. We had really good growth through last summer too. Getting back to the best of what AEW does is important to me, and historically, we've done a lot of that in the summer.”

While AEW has seen incredible growth over its first half-decade of existence, as the promotion went from just an idea to the second-biggest promotion in the world at a relentless clip, this next media rights contract could define their future heading into 2025 and beyond, with the potential for even more growth if Khan has more resources at his disposal. One way or another, the deal TK ultimately signs will go down as one of the most important pieces of wrestling news of the year, as it will truly help to define the fate of the industry into the future.