Stars of the ring coming to Cleveland with All Elite Wrestling; Wardlow, Santana and Ortiz talk shop

In his very first televised match, Cleveland native Michael Wardlow (Wardlow, for short) found himself in a steel cage with the son of “the son of a plumber,” a wrestling standout and staple from a legendary lineage, Cody Rhodes.

The show, airing live on TNT, was All Elite Wrestling’s “Dynamite.” The site was Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. And in terms of a wrestling debut, the lights don’t get much brighter.

Fortunately for the 34-year-old Guardians, Cavaliers and Browns fan, the bright lights only make him better.

“Man, you couldn’t have put any more pressure on me if you tried,” Wardlow said. AEW’s northern Ohio bruiser is set for a homecoming show Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University. The show airs live at 8 p.m. on its new network, TBS.

More: From Jon Moxley in AEW to Dolph Ziggler in WWE, Ohio is a pro wrestling hotbed

“I knew they took a chance on me,” he said. “Nobody really knew of me before AEW. I wasn’t that well known on the independent scene. I had really just started expanding on the indies when I signed to AEW. They really didn’t know what I was all about.”

Following a hard-hitting match, Rhodes eventually landed a moonsault (a back flip) from the top of the cage onto Wardlow for the win. But Wardlow’s first on-air experience had been an overwhelming success. “I thrive on pressure, and I perform my best when they stack the pressure on me,” Wardlow said. “So, the more I’m nervous, the more I know the outcome is gonna be great.”

All Elite Wrestling became the first mainstream alternative to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2019 and has steadily grown in popularity and prestige through “Dynamite,” its Friday night show, “Rampage,” and various YouTube offerings. The company was started by Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and has recruited some of the brightest independent wrestling talent across the globe as well as many ring veterans who became disillusioned with working for their competitor.

CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, FTR, Christian Cage, Mark Henry, Ruby Soho and Rhodes, among others, were all former WWE superstars. AEW’s “homegrown” talent, or standout talent recruited from the independent wrestling scene includes current champion “Hangman” Adam Page, Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF), The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Ricky Starks, Sammy Guevara, Britt Baker, Thunder Rosa, women’s champion Jade Cargill, tag team champions The Jurassic Express and tag team standouts Santana and Ortiz (more on them later).

Getting started

Wardlow got the sense that AEW was going to be something special when he first got wind of it from Rhodes, but he didn’t necessarily expect it to be such a success so quickly.

“When I first linked up with them, it was kind of all the stars aligning,” he said. “It was kind of like that perfect storm scenario where he heard my name from three or four people all within a few weeks' span.”

AEW invited Wardlow to Atlanta for a tryout to gauge his seriousness. “About five minutes after meeting Cody and him watching me work in the ring, he offered me a deal,” he said.

Wardlow grew up east of Cleveland in Middlefield, Ohio, and knew he wanted to be a professional wrestler from the start. At 6-3 and nearly 270 pounds, he has the perfect look and athleticism of a wrestling big man, but it wasn’t always that way.

“I was always the smallest until about my senior year,” he said. “Then I was bigger than everyone else. I was a late bloomer. But I was always the small, scrappy, fast kid.”

Wardlow spent the majority of his time emulating his favorite wrestlers on a trampoline or on mattresses in his backyard. “It was kind of all we had to do,” he said.

He got his first training experience at a place called The Dungeon in Cleveland. “It was very much a dungeon — no heat, no A/C. It was a very worn down building in a bad part of town.”

Wardlow was originally trained by Matt Justice, then later with The International Wrestling Cartel's (ICW) Iron City Wrestling Academy in Pittsburgh. His big size and physical strength soon caught the attention of Rhodes and AEW wrestler/producer QT Marshall. He’s been bludgeoning opponents ever since, including recently an idol and wrestling icon, CM Punk.

“CM Punk is one person that you just never thought you would have the opportunity to share a ring with,” Wardlow said. CM Punk, a wildly-popular ex-WWE champion, came to AEW with great fanfare late last year after seven years away from wrestling on the heels of nonstop rumors about his eventual return.

“That was the one guy you just crossed off the list, because you thought it was never gonna happen,” Wardlow said. “So, for that fact alone, it’s historical. And then the fact that I just pummeled him — an absolute legend, the biggest star in pro wrestling — I pummeled. That meant the world to me, and I’m still on a high from it.”

Wardlow has also long been the bodyguard and protector for AEW’s ultimate bad guy, MJF.

“Man, what a roller coaster,” Wardlow said of his on-screen boss. “You know, he’s a unique character, and he has his moments where things are great. But for the most part, I’ve seen him disrespect people on an astronomical level with just the things he says and does to people that he thinks is OK or appropriate, and they’re not. But at the end of the day, he pays me to protect him, so it is what it is.”

Tag team showcase

AEW has also made a strong effort to showcase its tag-team ranks, and one of the company’s most established and seasoned duos are New York-natives Mike Santana and Angel Ortiz (known in-ring as Santana and Ortiz). The pair came to AEW from Impact Wrestling, and it was history that factored into their decision.

“We wanted to be a part of something special,” Ortiz said. “There hasn’t been another wrestling company (besides WWE) on major network television for over 20 years.”

Santana pointed to that fact as to why AEW has been so successful in such a short period of time.

“It was something that the fans had been wanting for so long,” he said. “I think wrestling fans were bored with what was happening on TV, and they wanted something new and fresh. We came along at the right time and offered exactly that. It was the total opposite of what was happening on TV for so long.”

The duo both caught the wrestling bug early in life and they met while wrestling in singles competition at an independent show. Santana also needed a day job, and Ortiz was working in loss prevention at a Borders book store that was looking for help. After Santana got hired, the idea to become a tag team came during one of the pair’s seemingly endless conversations about wrestling, which they were having much to their boss’ chagrin, via the security headsets.

“We would have microphones, and we would use it to communicate, ‘There’s a suspect,’ or to say someone was stealing,” Ortiz explained. “But we would be talking about wrestling, and we would get in trouble all the time. We talked about being a tag team, and one day an opportunity came up to tag, and we never looked back.”

The tag team division was also one of the selling points that brought Santana and Ortiz to AEW. WWE often is criticized by fans for its handling of tag teams and the division being viewed as an afterthought. AEW gives tag teams equal time and billing.

“One of the big advantages the division has as a whole is the wide range of experience,” Santana said.

Ortiz said the only downside to AEW’s tag division is that there’s so many quality duos and not enough time to wrestle them all.

“i would love to wrestle every tag team on the roster,” he said. “I’m a big kid in a man’s body, and I just want to wrestle more. I want the experience. If they’re a newer tag team, we get to lead. If they’re a more experienced tag team, we get to follow or match them. It just keeps up sharp so we can keep doing what we’re doing.”

Cleveland homecoming

For Wardlow, Wednesday night’s show will happen about 15 minutes from his house. He’s curious to see how he feels working in front of his hometown crowd as compared to other cities.

“I almost feel like I’m gonna be a little more relaxed,” he said. “I’ll have that home court advantage. I think it’s gonna be more of a fun experience.”

He’s also excited to see what the rest of 2022 holds.

“If 2022 started off with what happened with CM Punk, I’ve gotta imagine the rest of the year is going to be pretty wild,” he said.

For Santana and Ortiz, while they’re happy with the progress both they and AEW have made in a short time, they’re not resting on their laurels.

“We want to progress and constantly challenge ourselves,” Ortiz said. “We want to put ourselves in situations we’re not comfortable with and try to succeed.”

Reach B.J Lisko at bjlisko@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter: @BJLisko.

If you go …

What: All Elite Wrestling

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Where: The Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave. E, Cleveland

Tickets: $32 to $93 at AllEliteWrestling.com

Watch on TV: “Dynamite” airs live at 8 p.m. Wednesday on TBS. “Rampage” will also be taped in Cleveland, and airs on Friday at 10 p.m. on TNT.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Stars of the ring coming to Cleveland with All Elite Wrestling