How AEW Made Wardlow A Perfect Monster Babyface | partsFUNknown - video Dailymotion

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How AEW Made Wardlow A Perfect Monster Babyface | partsFUNknown Wardlow has become one of AEW's biggest success stories but how did that come to be? Tempest breaks down How AEW Made Wardlow A Perfect Monster Babyface. What is your favourite Wardlow match so far? Let us know in the comments below!  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/ Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/ Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/

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00:00 Sometimes success can't be measured in hardware.

00:03 In the case of the subject of today's video, Wardlow's trophy case has yet to be filled,

00:08 but he remains one of All Elite Wrestling's greatest success stories.

00:13 Success in this regard isn't represented by kayfabe accolades, as aside from the 2022

00:18 Face of the Revolution ladder match, he really doesn't have any.

00:21 Saying that Wardlow has been a success is not dependent on him having been multiple

00:25 time world champion, at least not yet, but rather Wardlow should be considered a success

00:30 at this stage of his career because of a strongly executed storyline taking him from being a

00:35 one-dimensional heavy for the biggest heel in the show to being one of the most organically

00:39 popular characters in the whole company, all the while being booked in ways that best protect

00:44 this rising star while managing to delay his ascent until the opportune moment.

00:48 Oh, and this was done with a monster babyface, and if that sounds easier than your typical

00:53 non-monster variety babyface, you think again.

00:56 I'm Tempest Haling from PartsFunKnown, and this is how AEW made Wardlow a perfect monster

01:01 babyface.

01:02 So for anyone unfamiliar with the ascent of Warren Wardlow, here's a quick roundup of

01:07 everything you need to know.

01:08 Vignettes air promoting the arrival of Wardlow, an unknown signing at the time.

01:12 He debuts in November 2019 as the bodyguard of MJF, AEW's most despised heel, and does

01:17 most of the boss's dirty work over the next two years.

01:20 However, Wardlow is under contract with MJF rather than AEW, in kayfabe of course, not

01:25 for realsies, a detail that would continue to burn Wardlow as he became more popular

01:29 and began to talk back to his employer.

01:31 Wardlow is involved in all of MJF's angles, joining the inner circle and forming the pinnacle

01:35 together before MJF assigns Sean Spears to make sure Wardlow stays accountable.

01:40 This is done to quell Wardlow's rise in popularity as he begins to feed off the crowd during

01:44 his matches.

01:45 Through weeks of well-paced teases and careful character progression, Wardlow finally stood

01:49 up to MJF at Revolution, officially turning babyface before going on a dominant run as

01:54 a killer of fellow monsters.

01:55 It's more complicated than that, but those are the cliff notes.

01:58 When you look at young William Wardlow, which wrestlers are the best comparables?

02:02 In the modern age, I would have to say Goldberg and Batista, big ass-kicking monsters who

02:08 got over his strong babyfaces through long stretches of strong, consistent booking and

02:13 presentation.

02:14 But Wardlow is not a mirror image of either of these two, as will be evident as I use

02:18 Gorg and Blue Tista as sort of reference points for other examples of monster babyfaces working.

02:24 And I would use more examples, but monsters are difficult to book, and there aren't many

02:28 modern success stories of guys comparable to those I just mentioned.

02:32 Big muscle guys like Batista and others couldn't quite get away with exchanging arm drags in

02:35 the second match.

02:36 It's going to be all or nothing, main event or bust, and because not everyone's going

02:40 to be Dave Batista or Bill Goldberg and be even close to main event level talents, many

02:45 of the big muscular guys who went through the top promotions in the United States failed.

02:49 Folks like Ezekiel Jackson and Mason Ryan weren't going to reach the main event of

02:54 WWE at the time they were introduced, and it's very difficult to take someone who looks

02:58 like he has literal bowling balls for traps seriously when he's losing easily to undashing

03:02 Cody Rhodes in 2011.

03:04 And yes, I realize that it does sound a bit hypocritical saying losing to Cody is unbelievable

03:08 here whilst in the middle of a video talking about Wardlow, but I promise you, it's different

03:14 in his case.

03:15 Woodrow Wardlow's first match was the super popular and super memorable cage match he

03:18 and Cody had on Dynamite in 2020.

03:21 If tasked with booking a new monster bodyguard's first match, most people would more than likely

03:27 have that new monster win.

03:28 But AEW instead chose to have Wardlow lose to Cody in his first match as part of Cody's

03:33 list of stipulations he had to meet in order to meet MJF at Revolution.

03:37 Why was this the correct approach?

03:39 Well, for a few reasons really.

03:41 First of all, it fit the story they were telling for Cody and MJF, but it also removed the

03:45 worry of needing to keep track of a winning streak.

03:48 The winning streak gimmick is one of the simplest and most successful storylines in wrestling.

03:53 The famous examples of course being Goldberg, The Undertaker, Asuka, hell it even worked

03:58 with Ryback.

04:00 Ass-kicking wrestlers who have never lost, building to a big match with an opponent who

04:05 rarely loses is a solid booking philosophy.

04:07 So why didn't AEW choose to do this with their new monster?

04:11 Well because the booking of a monster can get a little more complicated than you're

04:14 looking for if you aren't looking to promote them to the main event in that given moment.

04:18 In Wallace Wardlow's case, at the time of his first match in AEW, he probably wouldn't

04:21 have been considered a main event caliber worker.

04:24 So rather than be forced to build Wardlow into a world title contender due to the sheer

04:27 number of consecutive wins he would amass over time, a position that he may not have

04:31 been ready for and could potentially damage him from the audience's eyes if they're expecting

04:36 a certain level of quality out of AEW World Championship matches, they nipped it in the

04:40 bud.

04:41 Cody beat him, and Wardlow was free to continue to improve without a forced push hanging over

04:45 him.

04:46 If you make a guy's entire character his winning streak and he isn't really a good enough wrestler

04:50 to be hanging with the top guys, and then you break his streak, well then he's just

04:54 a bad wrestler with no character.

04:56 You have Ryback.

04:57 While I said earlier that Ryback's streak was successful, that really is more of a half-truth,

05:02 as the success only relates to one pay-per-view when he challenged CM Punk for the WWE Championship

05:08 at Hell in a Cell 2012 to a big buy-in.

05:10 After he lost that match he was never the same because he wasn't ready to be in that

05:14 spot and he didn't have a character.

05:16 I'm not saying that Wardlow would have turned out to be like Ryback by any means, but it

05:20 is this drop-off in character that is avoided by booking with patience and restraint.

05:24 This is what sort of separates Winston Wardlow from Goldberg to me.

05:27 I don't know if Goldberg would work in today's day and age.

05:30 Maybe he would.

05:31 He's incredibly charismatic, and charisma goes a long way no matter what generation

05:34 of wrestling we're in.

05:35 But in-ring technique and overall work rate are definitely valued more today than they

05:39 were when Gorg burst out of the WCW powerplant.

05:41 It's not like that's what killed him in WCW or anything, but it also isn't a stretch

05:45 to say that there are many added risks when you push someone inexperienced into the spot

05:50 with the brightest spotlight and the most intense pressure.

05:53 Wardlow has had a Goldberg-esque presentation without a doubt.

05:56 His name being conveniently two syllables makes that pretty easy to pick up on.

06:01 It could be seen in his security escort from the back, his general badassery, and that

06:05 aforementioned chant as Wardlow's career progressed and he became more and more popular.

06:10 However, Wardlow can be set apart from Goldberg because of the choices made to give him more

06:14 time before he would step into his increased role.

06:17 It is very safe to say that Wardlow is a more polished performer these days than Goldberg

06:20 was.

06:21 Well, maybe that doesn't happen if Wardlow isn't given the chance to stand behind

06:25 MJF and develop his skills for two years.

06:27 Goldberg's iconic juggernaut run in WCW started with his very first appearance and

06:32 his first match, and you were going to get whatever you got as a result.

06:37 AEW instead chose to be patient, and in doing so they got to choose exactly when they wanted

06:41 to pull the trigger on Wardlow's rise to the top and did it when the big man had become

06:45 pretty damn fun to watch.

06:47 But let's go a bit deeper there, because choosing when to pull the trigger on a huge

06:50 main event push is as important a moment in a new star's ascent as can be, and I find

06:55 this to be the type of storyline that AEW really excels at telling.

06:59 They will give you enough to satisfy your need for weekly plot advancement, because

07:02 we've devolved into a society with the collective attention span of a goldfish, but they will

07:06 save the payoff for the biggest possible moment, kinda like another big muscle man with a meteoric

07:11 rise to the top of the wrestling business.

07:13 I am not the first, nor will I be the last to make the comparison between Willis Wardlow

07:17 and the biggest Dave to have ever been called Dave.

07:20 Wardlow's rise in popularity while part of the pinnacle parallels the rise of Batista

07:23 in Evolution almost perfectly.

07:25 The story beats aren't going to be exactly the same, because, well, MJF is not Triple

07:29 H and he hasn't been holding onto the world title for the last three years, but it is

07:33 the weekly progression leaving you feeling like you have to watch next week's show,

07:37 because maybe, just maybe, that's when Wardlow will finally have been pushed too far and

07:42 will break MJF in two.

07:44 That is like one of my favorite feelings in pro wrestling.

07:47 No, seriously, I think the Batista build in WrestleMania 21 is like maybe the most perfectly

07:53 executed WrestleMania build ever.

07:55 But anyway, back to the muscle man at hand, Wardlow's turn to the light was handled

07:59 patiently over the course of years.

08:01 For the most part, it was little teases here and there, Wardlow starting to roll his eyes

08:05 when MJF would speak, MJF just routinely being a prick and knowing that this has to be leading

08:10 to an ass kicking.

08:11 These were the things that would tide fans over from week to week in between the major

08:15 developments in the story.

08:17 This, for those unfamiliar, is one of the ways to do long-term storytelling properly

08:22 on weekly television.

08:23 Those little moments?

08:25 Those are the moments that lengthen these stories and make it so you don't have to

08:28 write major developments into them every week.

08:31 It's subtle a lot of the time, and I enjoy my media with a bit of subtlety.

08:35 But in Waylon Wardlow's case, this was a funny mix of a star very clearly having an

08:40 orchestrated babyface turn and also getting over very organically because of the direction

08:44 taken by AEW in this story.

08:47 Wardlow is a big man who has always been able to do very impressive things, so it comes

08:51 as no surprise that he would start to get cheered by the depressing tiny crowds of the

08:55 pandemic era.

08:56 However, while it was always clear that there would be potential for a huge babyface run

08:59 from Wardlow, the action being taken to actually turn him face didn't start until much later.

09:04 As part of the pinnacle with MJF, Seanathan Spears, and the BFFTR, Wardlow kept up his

09:09 bodyguard duties with little change until MJF had Spears assigned to Wardlow as his

09:14 accounted billabuddy at the end of October 2021.

09:17 Now, why is it so hard to book a monster babyface?

09:20 Well, to meet in order to be an effective babyface, you have to be able to draw sympathy.

09:25 And I mean that can be hard to do when your guy is huge and should kick the ass of most

09:29 anyone they step to in a fair fight.

09:31 Monster babyfaces can't get sympathy the same way as regular babyfaces.

09:35 Even though I'm sure there are many monsters who are experts at the craft of selling, seeing

09:39 monsters sell for long periods of time just because they're babyfaces can be very damaging.

09:45 Not only because it sort of breaks the mystique of a wrestler who should be steamrolling people

09:49 to see them unable to bust out of a rest hold, but because that's not what fans want to see.

09:54 Like picture this in your head, close your eyes, picture this in your head.

09:56 Baron Corbin has Rey Mysterio in a rest hold.

09:58 Should be pretty easy to picture, it's like, it's what Baron Corbin does.

10:02 That's a big dude crushing that little dude.

10:04 I'm gonna cheer for the little dude.

10:06 Now do me a favor and flip him.

10:08 Now picture the little guy having the big guy in the rest hold and being meant to cheer

10:14 for the big guy.

10:15 I'm just not gonna cheer as hard.

10:17 No one wants to see their favorite wrestler get beaten on, but there is an understanding

10:22 when you watch Rey Mysterio matches that you may have to watch him come from behind to

10:26 win.

10:27 With someone like Wardlow, I don't want to see him sell.

10:30 I want to see him kick ass, grind his opponents into dust, and mix them into his next protein

10:34 shake.

10:35 So because of that, you have to get sympathy on your monster outside of the ring.

10:39 There are exceptions of course, if you give him ten lashes and kick him in the balls he

10:42 will feel it and I will feel for him, but the sympathy earned by Weston Wardlow came

10:46 through the mistreatment by heels over a long period of time, turning Wardlow from a pretty

10:50 unlikable character that fans weren't intended to get behind, into someone who you could

10:54 not wait to break free from his contractual shackles.

10:57 There was a steady stream of matches and segments used to slowly escalate Wardlow's rise not

11:02 only up the card, but in popularity as well.

11:05 Wardlow begins to wrestle a style that of a babyface performer, introducing the Powerbomb

11:09 Symphony where he has fans chant for him to supply more bodily harm in the form of powerful

11:13 bombs... or maybe it's bombs that are full of power, I haven't really decided which.

11:18 The audience engagement is worked in tandem with Sean Spears who reprimands Wardlow for

11:22 not listening to him, which leads to bigger reactions for Wardlow as people wait for him

11:26 to eat Sean's head in one bite.

11:28 Wardlow was getting over quickly and then it was just a matter of keeping the audience

11:31 watching until the moment to cash in your babyface turn in the bank contract.

11:35 MJF cut Wardlow's pay on his birthday, caused him to lose his match against CM Punk, and

11:40 slapped him across the face when he stepped out of line backstage.

11:43 The buildup had reached gargantuan proportions just in time to give Wardlow the biggest win

11:47 of his career and the biggest moment of his career in the same night.

11:50 At Revolution 2022, Wardlow won the Face of the Revolution ladder match, the biggest accolade

11:55 in his career thus far, and stood up to MJF during his dog collar match with CM Punk in

11:59 a perfectly performed piece of theater.

12:02 Warwick Wardlow's babyface turn with the ring may not reach quite the heights that Batista's

12:05 legendary contract signing did, but the two make me feel very similar and I have to give

12:10 AEW credit.

12:11 Wardlow crushing MJF in minutes at Double or Nothing was more exciting than Batista's

12:15 WrestleMania main event with Triple H.

12:17 It is so incredibly easy to blow off an angle at the drop of a hat whenever you change your

12:21 mind or you get impatient or you want to capitalize on the current reactions of the audience,

12:26 but to commit to a plan and stick to your guns is more difficult.

12:29 However, it yields the best results as the longer the buildup, the bigger the reaction

12:33 so long as you have a satisfying conclusion.

12:35 This is just a really well executed push.

12:38 Wardlow has clearly been a project of Tony Khan and AEW's and now you can really see

12:42 the care and attention that has been put into making Wardlow a success.

12:46 He came in a good looking guy with potential and not three years later he is a star because

12:50 of his patient, long term consistent booking and the leaps forward he has taken as a performer.

12:55 Wardlow's future looks very bright and he steps into his singles future as the most

12:59 promising monster babyface I can recall seeing since the notorious B.I.G.

13:03 D.A.V.E.

13:04 AEW has a real success story on their hands and now it might be time for Wardlow to start

13:09 filling up the trophy case.

13:10 [Music]

How AEW Made Wardlow A Perfect Monster Babyface | partsFUNknown

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