Wardlow is gearing up for a TNT Championship match with newly-crowned champ Scorpio Sky on this week’s AEW Dynamite, which could potentially bring him his first title with the company. “Mr. Mayhem” has been with the company since late 2019 and up until Revolution a couple of weeks ago worked exclusively as MJF’s bodyguard. But the growing dissension between the two finally reached its boiling point when Wardlow cost Max his Dog Collar Match against CM Punk at Revolution, then declared he was no longer a member of The Pinnacle on the following Dynamite.
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Between his storyline with Max and his affinity for powerbombs, many have drawn comparisons between Wardlow and Dave Bautista (aka Batista), whose early years in WWE and initial push as a babyface followed a similar pattern while he was in Evolution. He addressed the comparisons while on Bleav in Pro Wrestling this week.
“It just makes me smile,” Wardlow said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). “You know, I, being a junior in high school, I just started growing. I’m 170 pounds and I’m like, ‘alright, I’m finally starting to grow some muscle.’ But you look at somebody like Batista and you’re like, ‘I can never. I’m going to try to get as close to that as possible, but like, what are the realistic odds?’ So I worked my butt off to get to as close to a Dave Batista level as possible.
“To go on Twitter and, you know, see side-by-side pictures and comparisons, and people comparing me to him is, it’s just such a cool feeling,” he continued. “You know, Dave is somebody who I haven’t met and would love to meet him to thank him, because he’s still somebody to this day that motivates me, you know? He’s still doing big things in life and he still motivates me and pushes me to this day without him knowing it.”
He later added — “You look at Batista, he started as Deacon Batista wearing that same suit, silent. I started with the suit. Silent. Then he turned into Evolution. I had been in the Pinnacle. Him and Triple H, me and Max. These things, that’s just crazy. You can’t write this stuff. It’s crazy how life has worked out.”
