AEW Double Or Nothing will be the culmination of Wardlow's journey from just a guy in the background to arguably the most over performer in the company. Creating stars is one of the most difficult things to do in professional wrestling, yet the way Wardlow has been booked has allowed him to get over organically without audiences feeling like he's being shoved down their throats.

Entering AEW as MJF's bodyguard, Wardlow slowly began to show reluctance to do his boss' bidding. He still went through with plenty of dastardly acts, sure. Yet there were signs of hesitation that gave fans something to relate to. So when War Dog "misplaced" Friedman's Dynamite Diamond Ring during his dog collar match against CM Punk at Revolution, the seeds were planted for their current—potentially pay-per-view-stealing—feud. The build to the match at Double Or Nothing has been stellar, and fans are firmly in Wardlow's corner as the show draws closer.

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That stands in stark contrast to how WWE has struggled to build up stars in recent years—especially big men, such as Omos, Veer and Jinder Mahal. That's not to say that Vince McMahon hasn't gotten any larger wrestlers over. It's just that whenever crowds start to cheer and it isn't how he envisioned things, he cuts ties. See Rusev (now Miro in AEW) and Braun Strowman (AKA Adam Scherr) for evidence of that. This leaves Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown audiences reaching for the remote when Omos is on their screens. Meanwhile, fans in AEW are scrambling for their wallets to purchase Double Or Nothing so they can take in the spectacle of Wardlow finally getting his hands on MJF without security or anyone else there to stop him.

Friedman deserves a lot of credit for his Midas touch here, but it's not as if Wardlow hasn't put in the work to get himself over. The whipping segment between Wardlow and MJF looked like sports entertainment gone wrong on paper, but in practice, they somehow made it work. Wardlow continues to sense and seize big moments, and AEW is putting him in the situations to do so. His magnetism was on full display during his steel cage match against Shawn Spears during the go-home show of AEW Dynamite.

The break-out-of-handcuffs spot could have felt campy, but it didn't. Wardlow fighting through double-team attacks and low-blows could have felt like too much—like AEW was just begging fans to accept him as their new Superman—but it didn't. The prospect of Wardlow being able to powerbomb MJF until his arms go numb was palpable as the crowd latched onto every spot. Bookers can't force pops like the one Wardlow got when he won this steel cage encounter to seal the deal on his match with Freidman at Double Or Nothing. AEW couldn't have asked for better reactions either, and as Wardlow stood atop the steel cage and shouted down at MJF following the match, one thing was clear: All Elite had succeeded where WWE has all too frequently failed in turning a charismatic big man into a legitimate draw.

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