• 3 months ago
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Wardlow broke his from just being MJF's muscles to become one of AEW's hottest rising stars, seemed destined for greatness with his powerhouse performances and undeniable charisma. However, his momentum has drastically cooled down, leaving fans wondering what went wrong. In this video, we take a close look at AEW's booking decisions, missed opportunities, and questionable storylines that have derailed Wardlow’s promising career.

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Transcript
00:00At Revolution 2022, the hulking Wardlow turned on the evil and despicable MJF and helped
00:14MJF's foe and AEW hero CM Punk beat him in a brutal, bloody, grisly, gnarly, dog collar
00:24match.
00:25Maybe one of the best matches of AEW that year.
00:28I know some of you are going to scream at me in the comments.
00:31This got a huge reaction as it was the first time that Wardlow stood up to the berating
00:38Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
00:41Fans embraced him with open arms.
00:44The next pay-per-view at Double or Nothing, he had a match with MJF and he absolutely
00:50destroyed him, I mean, wrecked him.
00:5310 power bombs, one after another.
00:57Much time the crowd chanting his name.
01:00It was maybe one of the most notable squash matches of all time, up there with that time
01:07Brock Lesnar wrecked John Cena.
01:09It was a monumental moment for Wardlow and a true crowning of him as a solo single superstar
01:17on his own, not just a supporting character.
01:21Everyone thought that this would launch him to the next level.
01:23He would win the AEW TNT Championship, AEW's equivalent of the Intercontinental title.
01:30But things went downhill from there.
01:33He lost the title, then he won it back, then he lost it again.
01:36The inconsistent up and down yo-yo booking hurt the credibility of this breakout young
01:43he-man became a real person of a wrestler that is Wardlow.
01:48And he's never been the same since.
01:49It's been a while since we've even seen him on TV.
01:53So what happened?
01:54Did AEW really fail Wardlow?
01:58I know some of you are going to say that in the comments.
02:01You think you know all the wrestling stories?
02:03There's more you haven't heard yet.
02:05Join us on Backstage Pass.
02:08And then other people are going to say it's simply a point of competition.
02:11Everyone's trying to find their own spots on TV.
02:14Let's get into it.
02:15Let us know what you think in the comments below.
02:17This is Sportskeeda Wrestling.
02:18I'm Kevin Kellum.
02:20Wardlow started his career as a professional wrestler in 2014.
02:24He wrestled for various wrestling promotions, including the International Wrestling Cartel.
02:29And he left a strong impression with his towering presence and athleticism.
02:33Wrestling in a way that defied expectations for someone of his brawny stature.
02:38In December 2016, Wardlow won his first championship by defeating RJ City, now someone you see
02:45on AEW television, in a broadcast hosting role.
02:48He did this to capture the vacant IWC Heavyweight Championship.
02:52Wardlow wanted what a lot of people want in pro wrestling.
02:56They want to be a WWE superstar.
02:58And he also had a tryout around this time to earn a precious, desired developmental
03:04contract with WWE, but was not offered a position.
03:09During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, he said, I always believed I was going to
03:14walk in WWE's front doors, and they were going to go, oh, wow, what took you so long?
03:20Get over here.
03:21So, you know, I don't want to sound cocky.
03:24I'm very confident that I was confident years ago, and it didn't happen.
03:28He described that rejection as motivation, a motivating factor for him, and he focused
03:34on getting booked on bigger independent shows around the country.
03:38In 2019, a new wrestling company emerged that was plucking big, notable names from
03:44the independent ranks with other combined forces of well-known names you've seen on
03:50international television, a little company called All Elite Wrestling, backed by NFL
03:56football team owner Tony Khan.
03:59They had their first show, Double or Nothing, in May of 2019, creating a lot of buzz and
04:05new relatively unknown wrestlers like MJF, Darby Allin, Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, Orange
04:11Cassidy, and many others were featured with noteworthy names that fans knew, along with
04:17the likes of Chris Jericho.
04:19The company was looking for more wrestlers, and Wardlow was one of the hot names on the
04:24independent circuit, and it was only a matter of time before he was signed to a deal with
04:28AEW.
04:29Plus, he didn't look like a lot of those cruise weight wrestlers.
04:32He had that head-turning-you-see-him-in-an-airport-test look that every big wrestler needs to have.
04:38Speaking in an interview with ESPR, Wardlow revealed that he was jobless and broke when
04:44he got signed and also said that former AEW Women's Champion Britt Baker vouched for him
04:51as they were both part of the international wrestling cartel promotion and she knew he
04:55had the goods to make it matter.
04:57On August 31st, 2019, a video package aired promoting Wardlow's impending powerful debut.
05:06Finally, he made his debut at AEW on November 13th's episode of Dynamite, attacking Cody
05:13Rhodes.
05:14Yeah, one of the top babyfaces in the company, Wardlow was put right there with him.
05:20He then aligned himself with the devious MJF.
05:24Max was seen as someone who could carry the company forward and at just 23 years old,
05:29he had captivated the AEW audiences with his charisma and personality and just being a
05:35total sleaze.
05:37But every sleaze needs a big monster goon behind them and Wardlow was going to be that
05:43goon.
05:44Wardlow being with MJF was the best thing that could have happened for him.
05:49Max being as obnoxious as he could be was a complete heat magnet who was embroiled in
05:55a personal issue with Cody Rhodes, the top babyface in the company.
05:59They needed someone to protect him from the beatdowns, keep the story going and make Cody
06:05chase MJF.
06:07To do that, he was going to have to go through Wardlow, the perfect guy for the role.
06:11He didn't have to do a whole lot, he just had to be there with MJF, look menacing and
06:15protect him and guess what, he's a pretty good guy at doing that.
06:19He also kept Max's precious dynamite diamond ring away from the ne'er-do-wells and less-thans
06:27and gave it to him whenever he needed to use it in a match to cheat.
06:33Although he was under contract with AEW and part of the active roster, the storyline positioned
06:38him as being under contract with MJF as his personal security.
06:45This employee-employer dynamic created a unique tension that eventually provided the
06:50perfect opportunity to tell a dramatic storyline where Wardlow could break free from MJF's
06:57awful villainous control.
07:00But before we get there, there was a long ways to go.
07:03He had his first match in AEW against Cody Rhodes, yeah, inside a steel cage at a big
07:11sold-out arena show in February 2020 on an episode of Dynamite.
07:21He faced one of the biggest names in AEW in a huge situation with the brand still being
07:26relatively new.
07:28This goes to show how much AEW believed in him.
07:31The match was brutal and bloody.
07:33Toward the end of it, Cody hit a moonsault off of the cage to secure the victory, although
07:40Wardlow lost, he proved to everyone that he could hold his own with one of the top
07:47stars in the company as someone that people may have tried to label as just a body guy.
07:56During MJF's feud with Cody, an episode of Dynamite in February saw Wardlow being
08:00instructed to whip Cody with a leather belt, yes, it was part of the path Cody had to go
08:06through stipulations just to get a match with MJF, which he did without hesitation.
08:12This decision would come back to haunt him a few years later, we'll touch back on that
08:16in a little bit.
08:17Wardlow was booked as an unstoppable force.
08:20Whenever he came on screen, people knew he meant business.
08:24In October of 2020, Wardlow competed in a tournament to crown the number one contender
08:29for the AEW World Championship.
08:32He defeated another young superstar in Jungle Boy Jack Perry in the first round, but eventually
08:37was eliminated by Adam Hangman Page in the semifinals.
08:41In the meantime, MJF expressed his interest in joining Chris Jericho's Inner Circle faction.
08:47At the Full Gear pay-per-view, they had a match with a clause that if MJF beats Chris,
08:53he would join the Inner Circle, and Max beat him.
08:57As a result, he and Wardlow joined the Inner Circle.
09:02Along with Jericho, the group already had Jake Hager, Santana, and Ortiz, and the young
09:07brash Sammy Guevara.
09:10Now with the inclusion of MJF and Wardlow, it became a seven-member group.
09:15They were featured together in some hilarious segments where Wardlow and Jake Hager had
09:19intense staredowns because they're two big dudes, big dudes don't get along with other
09:23big dudes, sparking speculation among fans on what would happen with those two behemoths.
09:31Over the next few months, tensions within the group began to rise, and Wardlow and MJF
09:36separated from the Inner Circle in March of 2021, forming their own group, The Pinnacle,
09:42kind of modeled like a modern-day Four Horsemen that was also made up of Sean Spears and FTR.
09:49On the other hand, Wardlow began to talk more, and started to cut his own promos, showing
09:54the world that he wasn't just a big guy who can wrestle, he's a big dude who can say
09:59big things.
10:01As the two groups clashed, Wardlow and Hager had an MMA rules cage fight, which was won
10:06by Hager, as he already had a background in MMA.
10:11Despite this, he always dominated his opponents, and AEW kept him strong and presented him
10:16as a threat to every single person he was in the ring with.
10:19The comparisons to WCW great Goldberg were frequent, as he shared a similar aura.
10:25Oh, aura, the most played out word of 2024.
10:29Some of you just learned that word this year, and you're already playing it out.
10:33But what wasn't played out was comparisons that made Wardlow feel like the big man that
10:38he was billed as.
10:40His comparisons to Goldberg only continued when he parted ways with WWE in 2022.
10:47The legendary WWE Hall of Famer was already being put into dream matches by all fans who
10:54saw him having a potential leap over to AEW.
10:58When you're the first person that people want to see paired with a Hall of Famer, you know
11:02you're doing something right.
11:04People had a lot of faith in Wardlow.
11:06Wardlow competed in the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal in 2021, but he was inadvertently eliminated
11:12from the multi-man match by his employer, MJF.
11:17This is when the dissension between the two began to truly rise.
11:21People saw it coming, and here it was.
11:23In the meantime, MJF was involved in a very personal issue with the biggest name in AEW,
11:30CM Punk.
11:32Wardlow and The Pinnacle were still loyal to Max, and they helped him in every situation
11:36he was involved in.
11:37However, Max often disrespected Wardlow, talking down to him.
11:43Fans knew where this was going.
11:45In January of 2022, Wardlow had his biggest match-up to date when he faced Punk.
11:51He showcased his power, dominating the best in the world, and also beat him.
11:56However, MJF stepped in, insisting that Wardlow inflict more punishment on Punk.
12:02Reluctant, Wardlow argued with Max, giving Punk the chance to capitalize on it and roll
12:07him up for the win.
12:09Following this, MJF began belittling Wardlow, who almost retaliated, but Sean Spears came
12:15in to calm the big man down.
12:18For the next few weeks, Wardlow appeared with Max, but clearly wanted nothing to do with
12:24him.
12:25Even the crowd reactions for him got bigger and bigger.
12:28People saw it simmering under the surface, wanting to see the break away from MJF.
12:35But don't forget that storyline element, he was in a contract with MJF, not AEW.
12:40But everything changed on an episode of Dynamite in March of 2022, when MJF went over the line
12:47and slapped Wardlow on live television, declaring this was the final straw, and Wardlow couldn't
12:59take any more of MJF's sleazy abuse.
13:04At the Revolution pay-per-view, he won the face of the revolution ladder match to become
13:09the number one contender for the TNT championship.
13:12On the same night, MJF faced CM Punk in a brutal, gnarly, bloody dog-collar match, maybe
13:20Punk's best outing with AEW.
13:23Towards the end of the match, Max called for Wardlow at ringside to assist him once more,
13:28who had the Dynamite diamond ring, that same ring he had used many times to cheat his way
13:35to victory.
13:36Eager to use it once more on Punk, MJF watched as Wardlow walked out and pretended to search
13:42his pockets, unable to find the ring.
13:45The crowd sensed what was coming, seizing the moment, Punk knocked Max out.
13:51Only then did Wardlow reveal that the diamond ring was in his pockets the entire time, placing
13:58it in the ring, easily for Punk to grab, and he used it on MJF to secure the victory.
14:05It was this night when Wardlow broke away from MJF, he got a huge reaction from the
14:10fans, and became one of the biggest babyfaces instantly in AEW.
14:14On the following episode of Dynamite, he cemented his turn in a promo, declaring that he was
14:19no longer MJF's bodyguard, no longer a member of the pinnacle.
14:23He had also told MJF to set him free from his contract.
14:28But that's where MJF gets his heat back.
14:31He plays on people's vulnerabilities.
14:34How would anyone expect anything else from this scumbag?
14:37Yes, during Wardlow's TNT Championship match against Scorpio Sky, MJF came out and cost
14:43him the title.
14:44This angered him even more.
14:46As mentioned earlier, Wardlow wasn't employed by AEW, but MJF, who had the power to prevent
14:52him from wrestling for AEW.
14:55MJF established a series of stipulations once more that Wardlow would have to meet
15:00to be released from his contract.
15:02First, he would have to be whipped with a belt 10 times, just as Wardlow had done assisting
15:08Max in doing the same to Cody Rhodes two years earlier.
15:12Second, he would have to face Shawn Spears in a steel cage match, with Max being the
15:18special guest referee, and third, he would have to beat MJF at the Double or Nothing
15:23pay-per-view.
15:24Wardlow did exactly that.
15:26He no-sold 10 brutal skin-ripping lashes to the back by MJF.
15:33He beat Spears in a steel cage match, despite Max being the special guest referee, and at
15:39Double or Nothing, he destroyed MJF, delivering 10 consecutive power bombs in one of the biggest
15:45squash matches in AEW history.
15:48The chants he received that night were skyrocketing.
15:52Fans were eager to see Wardlow, and made their support for him abundantly clear.
15:58This was a moment that Wardlow truly came into his own.
16:01Now he felt ready, ready to be a bigger name in AEW.
16:05He was quite the hot commodity following this match at Double or Nothing.
16:10Everybody wanted to see him succeed.
16:12However, something else happened that made everyone, unfortunately, forget a little about
16:17Wardlow.
16:18It just emerged from backstage that MJF reportedly, once again, we have to emphasize reportedly,
16:24no-showed an All Elite Wrestling fan event before Double or Nothing in Las Vegas that
16:29weekend.
16:30Nobody from the company was able to get a hold of him clearly, depending on which report
16:34you read, and this incident stemmed from a contract dispute between MJF and AEW President
16:40Tony Khan.
16:41At least, that's what we got reported from Fightful Select.
16:44He did put over Wardlow, and the controversy surrounding him drew all the attention away
16:49from the big man and his big moment.
16:52MJF went on to cut a shoot promo on Dynamite, or a work shoot, depending on who you believe
16:58when they talk about it, where he called Tony Khan, the president of the company, a, quote,
17:04f***ing mark.
17:05Yeah, he did that while there were AEW's TV partner executives in the crowd.
17:11That's a topic for another video.
17:14Coming back to Wardlow, he would go on to defeat Scorpio Sky to win the TNT Championship
17:19that had eluded him earlier.
17:21He captured the title in a significant build-up, and looked poised to become a major drawing
17:26power for All Elite.
17:28His initial defenses of the title were quite impressive.
17:31In the meantime, he would start a friendship of sorts with a feared member of the AEW roster,
17:37former Ring of Honor World Champion and certified all-around badass Samoa Joe.
17:43But this did not last long, as Joe would turn on Wardlow.
17:47Joe wanted to be the TNT Champion, and that's exactly what he did.
17:51He went on to beat Wardlow at the Full Gear pay-per-view in a triple threat match that
17:55also involved another massive fellow in powerhouse Hobbs.
18:01He regained the title at Revolution 2023, only to lose it again three days later to
18:06Hobbs, then reclaim it shortly after.
18:08Woo, everybody, put some gloves on, we got a hot potato title here.
18:12Someone like Wardlow shouldn't be losing, but here we are, he's losing a lot.
18:16But guess what?
18:17People can lose.
18:18I know some of you say, this guy has to be protected, and if he loses, calm down, you're
18:23not holding the pencil, you're just critiquing.
18:26And his feuds at this point were engaging the audience the same way we saw when he was
18:31chasing MJF.
18:33And maybe that's just the thrill in the chase concept that everyone seems to enjoy the most.
18:37AEW had the opportunity to give him a lengthy TNT title reign, potentially spanning over
18:41a year or even more, which could have elevated him to the next level, back and forth with
18:46the title, kind of maybe slow that momentum, leaving him sort of stuck in the mid-card
18:51with a lot of very talented people.
18:53He ultimately lost the TNT Championship to Luchasaurus, or rather just Christian Cage
18:58since he was the one who walked around with the title, and that happened in June of 2023.
19:03Now typically, when a wrestler drops a mid-card championship, it's a sign of maybe moving
19:07up to the world title level, especially under such nefarious standards.
19:12However, in Wardlow's case, things took an unexpected turn, as he seemingly vanished
19:17from television after losing that championship.
19:20Fans started questioning his booking, noticing that he was far from the level of popularity
19:25that he had reached at Double or Nothing 2022.
19:28In just under a year or so, he had faded into the background, becoming almost an afterthought
19:34in a promotion where there is a lot of very talented people competing for their minutes
19:39on camera and on television.
19:40In the meantime, MJF had won the AEW World Championship, and turned into a pseudo-babyface
19:47of sorts due to his friendship with Adam Cole, bay bay.
19:51And why are we mentioning MJF now when he was long gone from the picture?
19:55Well, because Wardlow returned to AEW in October of 2023 with MJF's name written on
20:02his wrist.
20:03It appeared as more of an intimidating, aggressive version of himself, making it clear that he
20:08had now turned into a villainous heel.
20:11Week after week, he squashed different opponents, and made it clear that he would be coming
20:15for MJF once more.
20:17He showed no interest in the fans' support for him this time around, or them supporting
20:22Maxwell, the man who had, you know, set him back a little bit.
20:26He grew increasingly resentful towards Max.
20:29This tension came to a head when he confronted Max backstage, declaring,
20:33You took everything from me.
20:37Now I'm going to take everything from you when you least expect it.
20:43He looked believable, and honestly, if AEW wanted, they could have positioned him to
20:47maybe dethrone MJF for that World Championship.
20:51Now that the roles had been reversed, the dynamic between them was kind of interesting
20:56and fresh, yet was playing off of their history, and MJF had already put Wardlow over in 2022.
21:02Dropping the title to his former bodyguard could have told the story in a new way, and
21:06Wardlow always got the better of MJF.
21:09Also it was a golden opportunity for AEW to push Wardlow to that main event scene, but
21:14as we now know, that did not happen.
21:17MJF was busy being in that devil storyline, where his devil mask that he had worn for
21:23some entrances got stolen, and he was desperate to find out who was now wearing that mask
21:28and attacking him and others that he was associated with backstage.
21:32He lost the championship to Samoa Joe at World's End in December of 2023, and that's where
21:38the devil was revealed.
21:40It was his best friend, Adam Cole, and Wardlow was one of the other masked henchmen at Cole's
21:50aid, along with Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett from Ring of Honor.
21:55After all the buildup around his return, the heel turn, the threats to MJF, it all led
22:02to this.
22:05It was seen by critics and fans at the time as kind of an underwhelming understatement
22:11of a reveal.
22:12It was something that a lot of people saw coming with Adam Cole, but too many twists
22:16and it didn't come out with any flavor that maybe they were intending.
22:19In the following episode of Dynamite, Cole announced that the stable would be called
22:22the Undisputed Kingdom, a name resembling the Undisputed Era from WWE NXT, which was
22:28also led by Cole.
22:30Unlike MJF, Cole promised to treat Wardlow better and said that the big man will win
22:35the AEW World Championship.
22:38He was already frustrated with his positioning on the show, and in February of 2024, Wardlow
22:43delivered a passionate declaration.
22:46He said,
22:47Two years ago, I had thousands and thousands of people chanting my name, city after city,
22:54in a manner that hasn't been seen in decades.
22:57I was the next big thing.
23:00But apparently the rocket that's strapped to my back was put upside down because ever
23:05since then I have been driven into the ground, screwed over and over and over again.
23:11You would think that the one true, homegrown, day one AEW original megastar would have been
23:18the champion a long time ago.
23:22But somehow, I've never received an opportunity for the heavyweight championship.
23:27People back there need to be fired and thrown in jail for that fact.
23:33Yeah.
23:34If I don't get a world title match, someone's going to jail?
23:38Only in pro wrestling can a guy say that seriously and we're all like, yeah, this is going to
23:42be cool.
23:43Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous.
23:44It felt like a shoot promo of sorts.
23:47Everything he said was within the standards true in the eyes of most fans following it
23:51week to week, and there was a reason for him to be pissed off.
23:54But still, the magic he had in 2022 wasn't exactly there.
23:59He went on to win the All-Star Scramble and received an AEW World Championship match though
24:05against Samoa Joe, a guy who had screwed him in the past.
24:09So all right, playing on some history, something interesting.
24:13He faced Joe for the title at the Dynamite Big Business event, but he failed to capture
24:18the championship.
24:19Maybe another missed opportunity.
24:21You can argue that Joe had just started his reign as champion, and after losing his title
24:25this soon, it would have diminished his credibility, but what about Wardlow?
24:30Well, it definitely hurt him, but you know, Joe had to march on and I don't think there
24:35was enough people complaining or maybe coming to Wardlow's aid saying, what about Wardlow?
24:41I know it sounds like Canyon from WCW.
24:43We have seen Adam Cole teasing betrayal on Wardlow ever since he lost the world title
24:48match, but it has not happened just yet.
24:50And where is the Undisputed Kingdom as a faction really gone?
24:53However, it won't be a shock if it actually happens.
24:56Wardlow has not been seen in AEW for a long time now, and the company needs to do something
25:01with him to make him feel like a relevant wrestler, to make him feel exciting and as
25:06fresh as he once was.
25:08He definitely needs to be maybe in and around the main event scene and maybe should win
25:13a world championship at some point since that's something they've teased so much.
25:18You don't get enough chances with someone like Wardlow.
25:20Instead of Goldberg did win the WCW world championship on his first try.
25:25It would have hurt his legacy, especially when you build them up as such an undeniable
25:30force, a force of nature, elemental, if you will.
25:33Wardlow is like that.
25:34The damage may have already been done, but if AEW can still make it right by rebooting
25:39and rebooking him consistently, much like they did in the early days of his AEW career,
25:45they could have something special.
25:47They could have their own Goldberg.
25:49Will he reach the level of success that he had at Double or Nothing 2022?
25:54According to Wardlow, he believes he can do that.
25:57When he was asked about people chanting his name at Double or Nothing on social media,
26:00he said, quote, I hear you every day.
26:03It's what kept me going the past year.
26:06Sad how tainted this night was for me, but we will get back to this one day.
26:11On my life.
26:13For anyone that's chanted my name, even when you didn't have much of a reason to, it's
26:18meant the world to me.
26:21We hope Wardlow makes a strong comeback and power bombs his way to the top once more.
26:27What are your thoughts on Wardlow's AEW career?
26:30Do you think he should stay with the company or do you want to see him go over to WWE?
26:34Hell, maybe he could go, I don't know, power bomb somebody at the Tokyo Dome for New Japan.
26:40Maybe there's spots over at TNA Wrestling for him as well.
26:44Wardlow is a special talent.
26:46Big men in this business at his age are a rarity, and we need to see more of them.
26:51What do you think?
26:52Let's see what you think.
26:53Give us some fantasy booking those comments down below and make sure you subscribe to
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