AEW: Wardlow on His Frustration With His MJF Match From Double or Nothing
Wardlow squashed MJF in mere minutes to open Double or Nothing back in May, continuing his push as one of AEW's hottest rising stars. But the match itself was overshadowed by Friedman's actions earlier that weekend when he reportedly got his hands on a plane ticket and considered leaving Las Vegas the night before the event, only to decide not to leave. He then cut a promo on Dynamite demanding Tony Khan firing him and hasn't been in any capacity with AEW since then. Wardlow turned around and won the TNT Championship, but his momentum has noticeably stalled in recent months.
"Mr. Mayhem" spoke with Digital Spy this week and admitted his frustration with Friedman and how his antics soured that match. He also admitted that his TNT title reign hasn't lived up to his expectations. Wardlow is scheduled to team with FTR to face Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns at All Out this Sunday.
"That should be considered one of the best nights of my life and it really wasn't," Wardlow said. "Everything that was going on with Max at the time and then in my life personally. Just nothing was going right and it's kind of sad that everything built up to this big night and there was so much that ruined it. All the crap with Max and everything he was pulling. I mean, I showed up that day not knowing if I was wrestling. There's a lot more I could say about it but I don't want to get angry but yeah, that should have been one of the best nights of my life and obviously the outcome was amazing but I really didn't ever have the opportunity to enjoy it. I feel like ever since that night things have kind of been just off and I feel like I'm still trying to get back on track ever since that night and we'll get there. But it is what it is, in this in life and in this business, not everything goes perfectly"
"I told the fans I wanted to bring some respect back to the TNT title," he added. "I think, just the fact that it's in my possession, the respect level's already up, the fact that Wardlow is the TNT champion makes the TNT Championship important. But realistically, I haven't done anything to really say that I've done that. So beating Jay Lethal I think is a huge accomplishment, he's one of the best wrestlers in the world so that feels important, that I feel is is an accomplishment. But beyond that I haven't done anything since being TNT champion and I'm ready for some real competition. Like yeah, I'll go in the ring, powerbomb somebody 10 times, put my foot on their chest and pin them. But guess what? I'll go in there and I'll work with whoever thinks they're the hardest worker. You step in the ring with me, I'm not just squash matches, I can perform. So I'm ready to show that."