AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 Results: Wardlow destroys MJF with 10 Power Bombs

Wardlow defeated MJF with 10 powerbombs at AEW Double or Nothing 2022. After a brief cat-and-mouse exchange, Wardlow took control as he powerbombed MJF into oblivion in a one-sided match.

MJF vs. Wardlow kicked off AEW Double or Nothing 2022 as Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s music played to kick off the show. Friedman walked out to a loud chorus of boos from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In addition to the boos, AEW’s tribal fanbase loudly chanted “assh-e!” “Fuck you, MJF” and “You screwed up!”. among other songs.

After MJF left AEW on Saturday night, Wardlow’s finest hour threatened to become his darkest day as a two-plus-year match was put in jeopardy. Although the situation looked dire, MJF vs. Wardlow went according to plan, with the match made even hotter by the real-life stories behind it.

Wardlow endeared himself to fans as MJF’s muscle during a deliberate two-year period in which tensions between the longtime couple gradually increased. AEW finally escalated the feud between MJF and Wardlow in recent months, with Wardlow assisting CM Punk in a top heel victory at AEW Revolution on March 6. Borrowing a page from Goldberg, Wardlow has been escorted to the ring by security for the last several weeks, as part of MJF’s storyline mandate. After a vengeful MJF banned Wardlow’s entrance music, Wardlow was serenaded by Goldberg-esque chants of “Wardlow” for a handful of weeks before AEW Double or Nothing.

After overcoming various obstacles and becoming a superior babyface in the process, now is Wardlow’s time.

Amidst all the stories surrounding MJF, Tony Khan and even WWE, Wardlow was the most sympathetic figure as the smoke cleared. Amid all the speculation about what AEW would do if MJF didn’t show up at AEW Double or Nothing 2022, some of the most popular options were potentially inserting Wardlow into the AEW World Championship main event between Hangman Adam Page and CM Punk.

In what may have been ironic (but who knows more given how real this MJF situation has become), Wardlow was very vocal in resisting MJF and threatened to go to WWE.

“I don’t know if what he’s doing is good business,” Wardlow told the the new york post.

“Honestly, that might be the only thing I can say that is a bad deal for Max. That goes back to who he is as a person. AEW has given Max a platform to become what he has become, so to go on Twitter and do these interviews and just blatantly slap AEW in the face saying ‘I’m going to WWE in 2024’ was absolute nonsense.”

Wardlow’s slow push mirrors that of Batista, who became WWE’s top star of a generation by going from henchman to champion. After beating Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 21, Batista became a made man who (temporarily) marked his ticket to the WWE Hall of Fame.

“The crazy [is] we did without even realizing it,” said Wardlow CBS Sports ahead of AEW Double or Nothing.

“We kind of reflected it. It was very different, but also the same. The crazy thing is this wasn’t my idea. I had nothing to say about it. It just happened organically. My career just seems to be mimicking Batista a little bit. You can compare The Pinnacle to Evolution and you can compare me to Max and me to Triple H. [and] Cambric. It really has developed in a very similar way to how he did. It’s something really special because we didn’t plan it that way.”

Wardlow’s Batista moment seemed destined for tonight, but in a matter of hours, the biggest win of his career went from shoo-in to uncertainty.

In the end, the match was fired up as Wardlow finally received the victory of his career over MJF. It’s worth noting that MJF was stretched as fans chanted “You deserve it!” MJF’s stretcher job could be a ploy to write him off television amid behind-the-scenes tensions with AEW.