Wardlow says he refuses to have MJF as the champion of his company.
"Mr. Mayhem" made his AEW debut in 2019 and immediately aligned with MJF. He worked as the latter's bodyguard for the first two years of his time with the company. Both men were featured as members of The Pinnacle, but cracks in their alliance grew progressively worse until Wardlow finally turned on MJF at AEW Revolution in March 2022, where he helped CM Punk beat "The Salt of the Earth".
After they feuded for a number of weeks, Wardlow defeated MJF at AEW Double or Nothing, and the Dynamite Diamond Ring winner went on to take some time away from AEW. MJF returned to AEW at All Out, where he won the Casino Ladder Match. As a result, he earned a world title shot, and he will cash it in at AEW Full Gear, where he will challenge Jon Moxley for the title.
In an interview with ESPR, Wardlow made it clear that he will not sit by if his former employer wins the AEW World Championship.
"I refuse to have MJF as the champion of my company. So if he ever does weasel his way to getting that title, I will quickly take it off of him," Wardlow said.
Wardlow has come a long way since he signed with AEW. Whereas he has become one of the company's top stars, he used to be another wrestler who was struggling to make it big before he landed with AEW. In the same interview, he recalled how this opportunity came together. He noted that QT Marshall and Glacier Lloyd, among others, helped him get a foot in the door.
“I was jobless, broke, living at my mothers house in my old bedroom. [I was] taking a nap because I didn’t have anything else to do. I woke up and I had a missed call from QT Marshall. I wasn’t even fully awake yet and I’m calling the number back trying to clear my throat and get ready for this phone call. We ended up talking for an hour and we had such a great connection. We both felt how passionate each other were about wrestling and basically they had heard my name from a few different people all around the same time. Britt Baker came up with me in Pittsburgh, we were both a part of IWC, we started at the same time. Warrior Wrestling had a couple of people who contacted Cody [Rhodes] about me. Then Glacier Lloyd, who’s affiliated with [The Nightmare Factory], he did a seminar at IWC and saw me work and said ‘Hey Cody, you might wanna take a look at this guy.’ Cody was like ‘Alright, I’ve heard this name Wardlow from like five different people. If he’ll fly himself to Atlanta, we’ll take a look at him.’ That was basically their challenge. I borrowed some money and booked a flight that night and then QT invited a complete stranger into his home and let me stay with him for three nights, him and his wife. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for that. Him and I worked in the ring for a few minutes in front of Cody and it only took three minutes and Cody offered me a deal," Wardlow said.
Wardlow recently shared his thoughts on the state of AEW's locker room. Check out his comments here.
William Regal discussed his memorable promo exchange with MJF on the October 18 episode of AEW Dynamite and the real story told within the segment. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out the card for this week's episode of AEW Dynamite here.
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