Wardlow, who considers wrestling his all-encompassing passion, clinched the TNT Championship twice in 2023. His initial victory came by besting Samoa Joe at AEW Revolution, and he recaptured the title later by overcoming Powerhouse Hobbs on the April 19 episode of AEW Dynamite. However, his most recent appearance on AEW television was on June 17 during AEW Collision, where he yielded the TNT Championship to Luchasaurus. Since then, he has been conspicuously absent from AEW programming.
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At the Terrificon 2023 event (video sourced from Fandom Spotlite), Wardlow was queried about a potential return to AEW Collision. He acknowledged the hurdles he faced when starting on the show, expressing optimism about a potential comeback. During the conversation, his prominence in an early AEW career video package was brought up, prompting Wardlow to stress the value of the television exposure he received. He candidly admitted that his absence from TV had led to a period of depression, underlining how wrestling serves as his source of happiness.
In an emotionally charged moment, Wardlow shared his feelings, saying,
“It is very surreal for me to be sitting up here, and I think these two gentlemen [Danhausen and Ethan Page] would agree. I think we all have similar come-ups in the business. We’ve been grinding for years. We’ve probably dreamed and wished of getting moments like these our whole lives. So I’ve been off TV for almost a couple months, and I’ve been very depressed. Wrestling is my everything. It makes me happy. So today, I feel like me again for the first time in months. So I just want to say thank you guys for coming out because you guys really flip a switch in my mind and my heart that I needed, so thank you,” Wardlow said.
As of now, there is no concrete information available about Wardlow’s potential return to AEW TV.
Photo Credit: AEW
H/T Fightful