AEW Star Returns To Confront Winner Of Samoa Joe-Darby Allin TNT Title Match

Wardlow is back on AEW television and he's gunning for Samoa Joe. 

"Mr. Mayhem" made his emphatic return on the 2/1 "AEW Dynamite" in his home state of Ohio, shortly after Joe regained the AEW TNT Championship from Darby Allin in a No Holds Barred main event bout. After the match, Wardlow charged down to the ring and placed the new TNT Champion in position for a powerbomb. However, Joe escaped the wrath of Wardlow and retreated quickly from the ringside area. Eventually, an irate Wardlow began attacking security guards, who tried their best to control the situation. The show went off the air with Wardlow power bombing one of the guards onto a sea of security personnel outside the ring. 

Wardlow had not been seen on AEW programming since his loss to Joe on the "New Year's Smash" episode of "Dynamite" in the last week of December 2022. That match was the culmination of a friendship-turned-rivalry between Joe and Wardlow that revolved around the TNT Championship. On November 9, Joe, also the holder of the ROH World TV Championship, shockingly betrayed Wardlow when the latter vowed to "take every title in this company." Subsequently, Joe took away Wardlow's TNT Championship by pinning Powerhouse Hobbs in a three-way match for the title, only to further the rivalry between the former WarJoe. 

With Joe defeating Allin to start his second reign as TNT Champion, it's worth noting that the title has changed hands on two occasions in 2023 itself, following Allin's win over Joe on January 4. While Wardlow's previous run — between July to November 2022 — lasted 136 days, almost every TNT Championship reign over the past two years has lasted less than 50 days, with the exception of Scorpio Sky's 70-day reign. Allin's 186-day TNT Championship reign in 2020-21 remains the longest in AEW history.