AEW creative under fire for repeating Wardlow mistake with 32-year-old star
A wrestling veteran has suggested that AEW's booking of a female 32-year-old star is somewhat reminiscent of their oft-criticized handling of Wardlow. The talent in question is Kamille, an ally of TBS Champion Mercedes Mone.
Despite making a strong debut as the former Sasha Banks' dominant associate in July, Kamille has arguably lost momentum since her loss to Kris Statlander at Fright Night Dynamite. Since then, Mone has demeaned and disrespected The Brickhouse on television for failing to defend her against Born Again Kristen in their recent backstage encounters.
The former WWE Superstar asked Kamille to stay behind and watch her defend her TBS Championship against Statlander at Full Gear 2024, which she proceeded to do without any outside interference.
During a recent edition of Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray shared his views regarding AEW's current utilization of the former NWA World Women's Champion, voicing concern that her career trajectory may go in the same direction as Wardlow's, whose booking has been a frequent point of criticism against the Tony Khan-led promotion.
"I don't think the experiment is working, I don't think it has worked from day one; I hate to even say this, but I'm starting to see the 'Wardlow Effect' going on with Kamille," Bully said.
Ray further praised Kamille and her prior work and reiterated that the All Elite creative team seemed to lack a firm grasp on how to book its larger athletes.
"I think the potential in Kamille and the upside to Kamille is amazing! I mean, go look at her body of work in the NWA?" Bully observed. "It doesn't seem like creative knows how to book a bigger person.. I think they're not quite in touch with certain characters." [H/T - Wrestling Inc]
Wardlow has been missing from action since March earlier this year. According to an Undisputed Kingdom stablemate, Mr. Mayhem has been dealing with a knee injury recently.
AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone was unhappy with Kamille's recent loss
In an edition of her Mone Mag newsletter from November, Mercedes Mone called out Kamille for failing to defeat Kris Statlander on AEW Dynamite.
Despite conceding that her ally was "awesome" towards the end, The Boss harshly berated the 32-year-old star for disappointing her.
"Kamille couldn't get the job done. I'm super embarrassed by her performance last week. I recruited The Brickhouse to the Moné Corp because I thought that she was one of the most dominant women in all professional wrestling,' she wrote. "But in her match last week, Kris Statlander proved that wrong. So, Kamille is in the doghouse. We will have to have a big talk before I can have her perform on TV again. Last week was just such an embarrassment.."
It remains to be seen whether Mercedes Mone will soon turn on Kamille - or vice versa - on AEW programming.