Is Wardlow AEW's best booking success to date?

[clifford]

There is a moment during this week's episode of Dynamite- Wardlow has beaten W. Morrissey and a cavalcade of 'AEW staff' geeks are hitting the ring to take him down. Wardlow is just laying waste to these jabronis and the crowd is going INSANE for it.

Got me thinking that AEW have done such an incredible job of getting Wardlow to where he is now; organically and genuinely one of the most over guys in the company. The Goldberg-esque 'Wardlow' chants, the Powerbomb symphony stuff, the pops for his moves, his promos, hell for his facial expressions.. The split from MJF was maybe the best 'bodyguard splits from his master' wrestling trope since Batista and Triple H in 2005.

And they've gotten to this point with him after starting with nothing. No name recognition, no previous familiarity from being on another major promotion or being big on the independent scene. All their other major stars either made their name somewhere else, or had buzz/reputation from the indies. He also had the fact that at the time of his debut he was AEW's first 'hoss' and might have been perceived as not much of a worker going against him.

For these reasons he's got to be considered their biggest booking success.

[ChitownKnight]

May 6, 2022 9:19:13 GMT -5 clifford said:

There is a moment during this week's episode of Dynamite- Wardlow has beaten W. Morrissey and a cavalcade of 'AEW staff' geeks are hitting the ring to take him down. Wardlow is just laying waste to these jabronis and the crowd is going INSANE for it.

Got me thinking that AEW have done such an incredible job of getting Wardlow to where he is now; organically and genuinely one of the most over guys in the company. The Goldberg-esque 'Wardlow' chants, the Powerbomb symphony stuff, the pops for his moves, his promos, hell for his facial expressions.. The split from MJF was maybe the best 'bodyguard splits from his master' wrestling trope since Batista and Triple H in 2005.

And they've gotten to this point with him after starting with nothing. No name recognition, no previous familiarity from being on another major promotion or being big on the independent scene. All their other major stars either made their name somewhere else, or had buzz/reputation from the indies. He also had the fact that at the time of his debut he was AEW's first 'hoss' and might have been perceived as not much of a worker going against him.

For these reasons he's got to be considered their biggest booking success.

I know Hangman had an ROH stint, but AEW turned him into a Cena type main Eventer

[Bang Bang Bart]

May 6, 2022 9:44:47 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

May 6, 2022 9:19:13 GMT -5 clifford said:

There is a moment during this week's episode of Dynamite- Wardlow has beaten W. Morrissey and a cavalcade of 'AEW staff' geeks are hitting the ring to take him down. Wardlow is just laying waste to these jabronis and the crowd is going INSANE for it.

Got me thinking that AEW have done such an incredible job of getting Wardlow to where he is now; organically and genuinely one of the most over guys in the company. The Goldberg-esque 'Wardlow' chants, the Powerbomb symphony stuff, the pops for his moves, his promos, hell for his facial expressions.. The split from MJF was maybe the best 'bodyguard splits from his master' wrestling trope since Batista and Triple H in 2005.

And they've gotten to this point with him after starting with nothing. No name recognition, no previous familiarity from being on another major promotion or being big on the independent scene. All their other major stars either made their name somewhere else, or had buzz/reputation from the indies. He also had the fact that at the time of his debut he was AEW's first 'hoss' and might have been perceived as not much of a worker going against him.

For these reasons he's got to be considered their biggest booking success.

I know Hangman had an ROH stint, but AEW turned him into a Cena type main Eventer

People were ambivalent towards Hangman being the first AEW Champ, and it took a well-crafted hero’s journey for people to truly get behind him.

[Dub H]

Yeh it's either him or Hangman.

It may end up being HOOK too but so far it's one of the two

[pinja]

I'd say so, yes. Wardlow was a total unknown commodity. Then he showed in his first match that he's competent in-ring, so the audience was willing to accept him. But it was the booking that brought him up to his current level. Everyone else already had some name value. Wardlow was a funny name, then he showed he's worth being booked, then his booking slowly (slooowly) became urgent.

[AwamoriRock]

He needs to wear expensive shirts as much as possible.

[oxbaker]

May 6, 2022 10:06:41 GMT -5 AwamoriRock said:

He needs to wear expensive shirts as much as possible.

Repackage him as Wardrobe!

Seriously, they’ve done a great job booking him and getting him over. 

If you look at it through the lens of getting over someone who was relatively/completely unknown, yeah it would be Wardlow and Hangman, but I think their best booking job (for me) was letting Jericho be Jericho from the start and his establishing the belt with the first AEW championship run. 

To me it solidified both the promotion and the championship and it got a lot of eyes on the product. Was it ‘brilliant’ as in doing something that had never been done before or taking a lump of clay and molding it? No, it was simple — he’s your biggest name and he’s creative AF and he knows what he’s doing, so put the pieces in place around him and let him do it. Booking doesn’t have to be complicated or groundbreaking to be great.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

May 6, 2022 9:53:42 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Yeh it's either him or Hangman.

It may end up being HOOK too but so far it's one of the two

Yeah. Agreed.

The thoughts occurred to me a lot during this Wahrdawg push “he might be the next homegrown champ after Hangman”. And yea, I count Hangman. It’s been great. Arguably the best thing on their product for months now.

[markymark]

Rememeber when some people thought Wardlow was buried when he lost to Punk or when he lost vs Scorpio?

He is now more over than ever..

[EZ: Brainy Bae]

I'd say yes. They elevated Hangman a great deal but there were mis-steps and a lot of dragging along the way (some their fault, some not). Can't find much if any fault with how they've built Wardlow so far.

[Cyno]

For a relative unknown, absolutely. Even Hangman had pretty good stints in ROH and New Japan. Wardlow came straight from the indies.

[Abdullah]

It’s really MJF. Talk about taking someone with modest buzz and just making him. Making sure to make him, even.

Wardlow is great so far, as someone who could have been dismissed as just another big man.

[bearned]

Everything about the Wardlow turn has been perfect. One of the best bits of booking anywhere in recent memory.

[Kalmia]

May 6, 2022 13:13:17 GMT -5 Abdullah said:

It’s really MJF. Talk about taking someone with modest buzz and just making him. Making sure to make him, even.

Wardlow is great so far, as someone who could have been dismissed as just another big man.

And a great deal of why Wardlow is hitting so well with the crowds is because it's MJF he's against.

AEW has done an excellent job with both of them, and both guys are just running with their opportunities.

[The Ichi]

He could very easily be the 1b face to Hangman's 1a. The Batista to his Cena if you will.

[Deleted]

I would definitely say yes...Unfortunately Hangman was on pace for this but had fizzled out before he even got the belt imo.

[Bang Bang Bart]

May 6, 2022 14:42:21 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

He could very easily be the 1b face to Hangman's 1a. The Batista to his Cena if you will.

If Page does drop the belt to MJF, Max has to drop it to Wardlow.

[Deleted]

They've got it spot on thus far.

Wardlow should be a main eventer if this is done right.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

I'd still say its Hangman, dude's remained consistently over and the crowd exploded when he got the belt

Wardlow, HOOK, Dante Martin, Yuta, MJF, Darby, John Silver, and quite a few others however have been damn good and get consistent loud crowd pops, it's nuts how over AEW can get some people.

[smokinvokoun86]

In many ways he’s their first true homegrown star thus far. Because unlike everyone one they signed in the early years, the ones who had huge Indy buzz or had big runs in WWE and Japan, I don’t think many people, even hardcore fans, knew who he was. I certainly didn’t know who he was. And he was hyped with a vignette at DON 2019 I believe.