Wardlow Defeats Samoa Joe, Wins TNT Title at AEW Revolution 2023

Wardlow beat Samoa Joe at AEW Revolution on Sunday to become a two-time TNT champion.

At one point, Wardlow and Joe were allies who teamed up multiple times from September to November as a team called WarJoe. At the time, Wardlow was TNT champion and Joe was ROH television champion, and they were starting to take over the tag team division as well.

The partnership was short-lived, though, as Joe eventually grew frustrated with Wardlow and the implication that he was the dominant champion in AEW, as well as Wardlow's focus on Powerhouse Hobbs.

With Wardlow focusing on Hobbs rather than him, Joe attacked and turned on Wardlow in November, thus marking Wardlow's scheduled title defense at Full Gear a three-way dance.

The Samoan Submission Machine took advantage of the opportunity by winning the match and becoming TNT champion for the first time.

Wardlow was given a rematch on the Dec. 28 New Year's Smash edition of Dynamite, but Joe worked over Wardlow's knee and eventually made him pass out in a sleeper hold to retain the championship.

After the bout, it looked as though Joe and Wardlow were about to make amends, but Joe knocked out Wardlow with the belt instead and added insult to injury by cutting off his ponytail.

During the time when Wardlow was out of action, Joe dropped the TNT Championship to Darby Allin, but he won it back on the Feb. 1 episode of Dynamite, which set the stage for Wardlow's return.

After missing about a month of action, a new-look Wardlow resurfaced and set his sights on Joe, making it clear that he was coming for his rival and the TNT title.

With a victory at Revolution, Wardlow regained the TNT Championship, and he is now in line to restart his ascent toward the top of AEW.

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