With Forbidden Door right around the corner, members of New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL have been making their way over to AEW to get some wins ahead of the massive Pay-Per-View, including a few first-time appearances like that of Bullet Club's Gabe Kidd, the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion who recorded a win with Roderick Strong over The Infantry in a match being aired next week on the go-home edition of Rampage.

Exciting stuff? You bet; while Kidd has wrestled in the USA many times before, this will mark his first appearance on American television, unless, of course, you count the NJPW show on AXS. But did you know things almost shook out very differently for the most fiery member of Bullet Club, with Kidd having conversations with WWE about joining NXT back when his contract came due in March? Well, according to Kidd in an interview with WRESTHINGS, that appears to be the case.

“I chose to stay because the idea of going to America and beating up them fools is very fun, but just the feeling of beating go some Japanese nerd and then going to a convenience store, copping a Strong Zero for one pound, downing it, getting very drunk, dancing with some very sexy Asian women, going to bed at five a.m., waking up at nine to go to the gym, it’s just a very good lifestyle for me. I’m enjoying it too much, honestly. I just enjoy it too much. The Asian women is a big part of it as well. I’ll say that,” Gabe Kidd told WRESTHINGS via Fightful.

“I don’t know. I mean, NXT is going crazy right now, but it’s a good lifestyle for me, and they’re paying me very handsomely, as they f**king should. So right now, it’s good for me. Things can change, and money talks, so whoever wants to talk to me, talk to me when the time’s right. But I feel right now, it’s best for me to be in Japan and help bring this company back up. Because the thing is, I want to hate Japan. I want to have that feeling that I never want to go back. I want to have that feeling that I don’t want to be there. But because I’ve put so much of my life into it, because I literally nearly sacrificed my whole life for it, there’s something in me, there’s something that just holds me back from dipping out.

“I feel like I can’t leave until I am the IWGP Champion. I can’t. I can’t because the situations that that company have put my life in and the amount of time I’ve sat thinking on it, I can’t rest. I was ringing people up when I was in the hospital, I was saying, ‘Give me a title match now, I’m ready now. Give it to me.’ It’s in my blood. It’s wired in my brain. There’s something in my brain that can’t let go of it. So it’s just what needs to happen, and they need to hurry the f**k up and give me a title match. Hurry up and give me my title match, Tanahashi. You f**king b**ch.”

Gosh, could you imagine what would have happened if Kidd actually did sign with NXT or even AEW after establishing himself as the most interesting performer in NJPW from a hype-generating perspective? While Tony Khan almost certainly would have let him be him minus (some) swear words, what would his character have looked like in NXT? Something like Charlie Dempsey? Needless to say, it's good for the state of the industry that Kidd opted to stay with the King of Sports, as only time will tell what crazy things he'll cook up before his current contract comes up.

Gabe Kidd is down to fly the Bullet Club flag for any company.

While Gabe Kidd is quick to talk smack on both WWE and AEW, comparing the former to the theater and the latter to a show for nerds who can't talk to girls on a CBS LA TV spot to promote Resurgence, the current NJPW Strong Openweight Champion doesn't inherently have any issues with either promotion. No, as he noted elsewhere in an interview with WRESTHINGS, he simply wants to go to bat for the company he works for and could theoretically be persuaded to do the same for someone else if the money is right.

“Listen, I try to live in the moment. I don’t even try, I live in the moment. Regardless, where I am right now is New Japan. Where I’m gonna be for the time being is New Japan,” Gabe Kidd noted via Fightful.

“So for now, it’s f**k AEW and f**k WWE. I don’t give a s**t about them two right now. But when they put a fat stack of cash on the table and a nice big contract, then that might change. Then it might be f**k New Japan as well. But until that time, I’m enjoying this ride, I’m enjoying this life, and I’m enjoying the fruits of my hard work and the rewards that I am getting right now for the repercussions of what I’ve been doing, for the amount of hours I’ve put in, 14 years I’ve been doing this now.”

Welp, there you go, folks; if a wrestling promoter wants to get Kidd and his mouth out of Bullet Club and onto their side of the aisle, throwing volleys at opposing companies with ease, all they have to do is pay up for the honor. Pretty cut-and-dry, huh?