The recent return of Wardlow to All Elite Wrestling at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view has been a major topic of discussion among wrestling fans and analysts. While the return itself was a surprise, some have been critical of how the powerhouse has been presented in the weeks since. Wardlow made his comeback by aligning himself with The Don Callis Family, but two notable veterans of the industry, WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray and TNA star Nic Nemeth, believe that the company has missed an opportunity to capitalize on his return and has placed him in a similar position to where he was before his long hiatus. The critique centers around the idea that Wardlow, a talent with immense potential and a strong connection with the audience, has been relegated to a background role in a large faction rather than being presented as a major, game-changing star.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, both Bully Ray and Nic Nemeth shared their thoughts on the situation, expressing their disappointment with the creative direction. Nic Nemeth was the first to voice his concerns.
“He came back at the pay-per-view, and he was there [at Dynamite], kinda, like cardboard cutout-wise, and it broke my heart. We didn’t hear from him? Maybe you don’t have to hear from him. He’s standing next to Don Callis. That’s kind of a big deal. It wasn’t addressed and Callis had a long promo about all of his minions in his group and I just go, ‘There’s something special that could have happened there.’ We’re not clotheslining anybody? [To just have] him standing there, immediately just goes, ‘Oh, this isn’t a big deal.’”
Bully Ray echoed Nemeth’s sentiments, stating that while he was happy to see Wardlow back, the presentation was lacking.
“It was great to see Wardlow back. It was not great to see Wardlow back in the exact same spot he was in when he left 17 months ago. I think that they could get it back with Wardlow. I think he’s one of those talents that the people want to invest in. I think that they would forget about all of the mistakes that AEW has made with him if you just put him in a spot to shine. I don’t know if he was there as Don Callis’ bodyguard, his executive assistant, his chef, his driver, his laundryman, his bag boy. Pick one of those because all he did was stand next to Don Callis while Don Callis announced and featured everybody else.”
