Wardlow became a three-time TNT Champion on this week’s AEW Dynamite, defeating Powerhouse Hobbs with three consecutive Powerbombs. “Mr. Mayhem” revealed prior to the match that he had enlisted Arn Anderson and his new manager, who proved to be pivotal in the final moments as QT Marshall and the rest of QTV attempted to interfere. Marshall nailed Wardlow with a Diamond Cutter late in the match, then jumped back inside the ring when Wardlow kicked out at two. This prompted Anderson to step in, nailing Marshall with a DDT after Penta El Zero Miedo (who also has beef with QTV) chased him back into the ring.ย
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Wardlow initially won the title back in July 2022 as part of his major singles push. However, his momentum quickly lost steam across his four months with the gold. And while he was able to avenge his initial loss to Samoa Joe at Revolution, he then turned around and lost the title to Hobbs in a Falls Count Anywhere match a mere three days later.ย
Prior to his pay-per-view bout with Joe, Wardlow explained what went wrong with his 2022 run in an interview with ComicBook. He now joins Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara as the only men to have ever held the title three times.ย
“Man, I think about this a lot, and I was just thinking about this very in-depth recently because I feel like I took it for granted a little bit. Few reasons,” he began. “So I’m a negative thinker, I’m my biggest critic. I don’t think at the time I allowed myself to comprehend just how big I was and how popular and how just outrageous the ideal of Wardlow was at the time.
“Also, I think there’s a little bit of truth to Max (MJF) calling himself the devil. Right around the time Max and I started our feud, I really just lost myself, and I just wasn’t myself in that whole stretch of time. I was just a different person and I was a ball of stress and I really couldn’t focus or grasp what my life was or should have been,” Wardlow continued. “And even after I beat Max, the devil wasn’t gone. He still had his claws in my back. And the next night, here I am, Wardlow getting my name chanted by a sold-out crowd like we haven’t seen in decades. And the next (episode) I’m back to doing nothing and Max is dropping this bombshell of a promo and now the show’s still all about him. I beat him, but I didn’t beat him. So there’s a lot to be said there. All’s I’ll say is I’ll dance with the devil again, and that time will come and things will be a little different next time.”
Wardlow’s celebration was short-lived, as he was quickly confronted by Christian Cage and Luchasaurus. All signs point to the big man challenging for the title next.
