Reigning TNT Champion Wardlow has reflected on the issues surrounding MJF at Double Or Nothing and says he showed up not knowing if he still had a match.
Wardlow burst onto the AEW scene in 2019 as the hired gun by the side of MJF. Together, MJF thrived as long as he had Mr. Mayhem helping fight his battles for him, and their partnership endured through a spell in the Inner Circle and saw them form The Pinnacle with Shawn Spears and FTR.
However, on-screen MJF’s attitude towards Wardlow grew increasingly poor, often times berating the man he simply saw as ‘the help’ and reminding him that the War Dog worked for MJF, not AEW.
By the time Revolution in 2022 came around, Wardlow had had enough. He turned his back on MJF and left the Dynamite Diamond ring that had formed such a big part of his arsenal in the ring for Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s opponent that night, CM Punk, to use to defeat him.
That caused a major feud between MJF and Wardlow, with the bodyguard turned hero trying to get his hands on his boss at every turn. Wardlow endured a whipping and a match with Spears to ensure he got MJF one-on-one at Double Or Nothing to cap off their feud.
But problems were brewing behind the scenes and in the lead-up to Double Or Nothing, rumours ran rampant that MJF was going to no-show the event as a result of unhappiness with his contract and AEW President, Tony Khan.
MJF did turn up for the match and Wardlow put him away with ten powerbombs, leading to Long Island’s finest being carted off on a stretcher.
Speaking to Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Wardlow reflected on the events surrounding that night in Las Vegas and says he never got to enjoy what should have been one of the best nights of his life:
“That should be considered one of the best nights of my life and it really wasn’t. 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.”