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Wardlow Returns To AEW In Vicious Forbidden Door Attack

Wardlow is back in AEW and has a new allegiance of friends around him.
Zack Heydorn|
AEW

Wardlow is back in AEW.

The former TNT Champion returned to AEW at the Forbidden Door PPV event on Sunday inside the O2 Arena in the UK. He has reportedly been away from AEW while recovering from a torn labrum.

Wardlow made his triumphant return and immediately put the AEW locker room on notice with a vicious attack. Wardlow appeared after Kazuchika Okada retained his AEW Unified Championship against Swerve Strickland.

Okada targeted Strickland's knee throughout the match. After the match, Okada continued to attack the knee with a steel chair until Prince Nana tried to make the save. Okada backed away, but as Strickland writhed in pain in the ring, Wardlow appeared.

Wardlow took our Prince Nana with a spear and powerbomb and then did the same to Swerve Strickland. AEW security tried to pry Wardlow off Nana, but he destroyed them all for trying.

Wardlow
Wardlow on Dynamite | Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

Wardlow joins The Don Callis Family

It appeared as if Wardlow was working on his own during the attack, but at the end it became clear that he had official aligned with The Don Callis Family, which already includes Okada, Kyle Fletcher -- who retained the TNT Championship at Forbidden Door, and Konosuke Takeshita.

The announce team surmised that Wardlow was the Don Callis insurance policy and the two men hugged in the middle of the ring after he attacked. Wardlow stood with Callis and then face to face with Takeshita. Takeshita walked down to the ring after the attack. He recently won this year's G1 Climax tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling and will get an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Swerve Strickland had been working with a knee injury for six years. The attack angle at Forbidden Door is likely a way for AEW to write Strickland off of television, while he recovers.

AEW has been hit with a bit of an injury bug lately. The Takedown on SI reported last week that Will Ospreay was legit injured and set to have surgery after his Forbidden Door match.

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Zack Heydorn
ZACK HEYDORN

Zack Heydorn has been covering the pro wrestling industry for a decade and writes news, features, and interviews for The Takedown On SI. He also hosts and cohosts a variety of WWE and AEW shows on YouTube. Heydorn is a former Assistant Editor of PWTorch and Managing Editor of SEScoops. Zack is also the author of the Hybrid Shoot book Stunning: The Wrestling Artistry of Steve Austin, which is available on Amazon. You can follow Zack on X and Bluesky.

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