Report: Reason Wardlow Dropped The AEW TNT Title Revealed

After enjoying a stellar first half of the year, the second half of Wardlow’s 2022 was a mixed affair, with AEW’s ‘War Dog’ at times lost in the shuffle.

Despite this, Wardlow did enjoy a run with the TNT Championship, before shockingly dropping the title to Samoa Joe in November 2022, and losing a subsequent rematch to Joe at the end of December - Wardlow’s last match to date.

Whilst many assumed that AEW had changed their focus, a new report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggests that AEW took the belt off Wardlow due to injury. Per Meltzer, the title change and subsequent beatdown from Joe were done to write Wardlow off TV, and although the nature of the former Pinnacle member’s injury is currently unknown, Meltzer stated that Wardlow isn’t believed to be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

After their match in December, Joe successfully choked Wardlow out and cut off his hair, setting the stakes for an eventual return feud. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we see it play out on AEW TV.