Wardlow To Face Huge Cult Favourite In First AEW TNT Title Defence
Wardlow will look to score his first TNT Title defence in this week's AEW Fyter Fest special.
Wardlow will defend his newly-won AEW TNT Championship against Orange Cassidy on this week's special Fyter Fest episode of Dynamite, the promotion has announced.
AEW founder and CEO Tony Khan confirmed the bout via Twitter on Monday night. Cassidy, he says, responded to an open challenge from Wardlow:-
In 2022 Wardlow’s won the #FaceOfTheRevolution, became #AllElite at #DoubleOrNothing, + became TNT Champion last week!Now @RealWardlow’s issued an open challenge for #AEWDynamite & his opponent is red hot fresh off back-to-back tv wins
AdvertisementTNT ChampionshipWardlow vs @orangecassidy pic.twitter.com/PfkkEdbpzX
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 11, 2022
In a follow-up tweet, Khan noted that the last time these two wrestlers shared a ring (Revolution 2022's Face of the Revolution ladder match), Wardlow was victorious and Cassidy left with an injury sidelining him for three months. The duo have never gone one on one before.
Wardlow scored a one-sided victory over Scorpio Sky on last week's Dynamite, thus commencing his first TNT Title reign. That bout brought multiple interferences from Dan Lambert's American Top Team crew. The MMA fighters were light work for Wardlow, however, as the big man put each down en route to victory.
Cassidy, meanwhile, has been in inspired form since returning to the ring in June. Though he was defeated by Will Ospreay in one of the year's most critically acclaimed matches at Forbidden Door (26 June), he has since racked up two consecutive singles wins, felling Tony Nese and Ethan Page.