Samoa Joe Wins AEW TNT Title vs. Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs at AEW Full Gear 2022
Samoa Joe beat Wardlow and Powerhouse Hobbs in a three-way match at AEW Full Gear on Saturday to become the new TNT champion.
Samoa Joe knocked out Wardlow with the title belt before defeating Powerhouse Hobbs via submission to become the new champion.
There were good spots throughout the match, including Wardlow's moonsault and Hobbs trucking Samoa Joe.
Ultimately, Samoa Joe got the win to end Wardlow's reign.
All signs initially pointed toward a one-on-one match between Wardlow and Hobbs at Full Gear since the latter called out the former for weeks and made clear his intentions to become the champion.
A wild card was thrown into the mix a couple of weeks ago, though, when Samoa Joe turned heel by attacking Wardlow.
Wardlow and Joe had been operating as a tag team known as WarJoe, but something Mr. Mayhem said in a promo seemed to get to his teammate, who is the reigning Ring of Honor television champion.
Wardlow said he wouldn't rest until he held every title in All Elite Wrestling, and since Joe was in possession of a belt in his own right, he viewed it as a threat and launched a preemptive strike.
With both Hobbs and Joe targeting him, MJF's former bodyguard was pressed into the most challenging title defense of his reign.
Wardlow originally won the TBS title on the July 6 episode of Dynamite by beating Scorpio Sky. After that, he picked up wins over Orange Cassidy, Jay Lethal, Ryan Nemeth, Tony Nese, Brian Cage and Ariya Daivari.
None of his previous opponents were considered true threats to knock him from his perch as TNT champion, but that wasn't the case at Full Gear.
Hobbs is one of AEW's most physically impressive wrestlers and a potential world champion, while Joe is a crafty veteran who previously held world titles in both ROH and Impact Wrestling, as well as the NXT and United States championships in WWE.
Wardlow was expected to win despite the odds being stacked against him, but it was Samoa Joe who came out on top, creating some doubt regarding where the outgoing champion goes from here.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).
