Wardlow AEW Idea Linked To Brock Lesnar

Wardlow is on the warpath in AEW and for long-time fans, it might seem very familiar.

Wardlow had not been seen in AEW for almost four months since losing the TNT Title to Luchasaurus back in June when he arrived with a statement to make on the fourth-anniversary edition of Dynamite.

The three-time TNT Champion took on Griff Garrison in something that was less of a wrestling match and more of an assault. On the Title Tuesday edition of Dynamite, it was Matt Sydal’s turn to take on the angry Wardlow and he suffered the same fate as Garrison. Wardlow dropped Sydal with multiple powerbombs before the referee called the match off in less than a minute. Once again, Wardlow left the arena through the crowd.

Is Wardlow taking inspiration from Brock Lesnar?

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer pointed out that the idea for Wardlow currently in AEW seems to bear a strong resemblance to how Brock Lesnar was introduced to WWE crowds in 2002 – until Paul Levesque [Triple H] put a stop to it:

“Do you know where this idea came from as far as this thing [with Wardlow]? The idea when Lesnar first came to WWE from OVW in 2002 to break him from the pack, they didn’t want him to be just another guy. He would destroy people and they would do ref stoppages so they did that for a week or two and then Levesque actually went to Vince [McMahon] and said ‘This isn’t getting over’ so they stopped. Anyway, that’s what happened 21 years ago.”

Brock Lesnar burst onto the WWE scene on the night after WrestleMania 18 where he laid waste to several WWE stars. This was repeated for several weeks with Lesnar not having his first televised match in the company until Backlash 2002 when he defeated Jeff Hardy by TKO. Similar wins followed on the next episodes of Raw before he started winning bouts by more conventional means.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJR Wrestling for the transcription.