Wardlow Sees Comparisons Between Himself And Batista
In an interview with the Bleav in Pro Wrestling podcast, AEW star Wardlow talked about his Powerbomb Symphony, a series of powerbombs the Face of the Revolution ladder match winner does to great effect.
It wasn't something Wardlow was looking to do at first, however, until it was recommended to him that he start doing multiple powerbombs.
"I didn't come in saying, 'I want to do a powerbomb,'" Wardlow admitted. "So two of my favorite wrestlers growing up were Kevin Nash, Jackknife Powerbomb, and Dave Batista, Batista Bomb. And Batista's on the level of Jeff Hardy. [They're from] different times of my life, but made equal impacts on my life. So, realistically, you would think I would come in like, 'I've got to do a powerbomb.'
"But that actually came out, Chris Jericho kind of recommended me doing multiple powerbombs, and then it kind of was like, 'okay, this could work.' And then Tony Khan is the one that said that Dean did the Powerbomb Symphony, and we just went with it and it seemed to work out well."
One thing that pleases Wardlow is the comparisons he gets to Dave Batista. He talked about growing up a fan of the former WWE Champion and how he tried to emulate him.
"It just makes me smile," Wardlow said. "You know, I, being a junior in high school, I just started growing. I'm 170 pounds and I'm like, 'alright, I'm finally starting to grow some muscle.' But you look at somebody like Batista and you're like, 'I can never. I'm going to try to get as close to that as possible, but like, what are the realistic odds?' So I worked my butt off to get to as close to a Dave Batista level as possible.
"To go on Twitter and, you know, see side-by-side pictures and comparisons, and people comparing me to him is, it's just such a cool feeling. You know, Dave is somebody who I haven't met and would love to meet him to thank him, because he's still somebody to this day that motivates me, you know? He's still doing big things in life and he still motivates me and pushes me to this day without him knowing it."
Wardlow also acknowledged the similarities between him and Batista. In particular, Wardlow pointed out how his career had taken on a similar trajectory as Batista's did when he first broke out in 2004/2005.
"You look at Batista, he started as Deacon Batista wearing that same suit, silent," Wardlow said. "I started with the suit. Silent. Then he turned into Evolution. I had been in the Pinnacle. Him and Triple H, me and Max. These things, that's just crazy. You can't write this stuff. It's crazy how life has worked out."
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