Report: Powerhouse Hobbs' TNT Title Win Planned For Months
Backstage news on Powerhouse Hobbs' TNT Title win
Mar 10, 2023
The plan for Powerhouse Hobbs to capture All Elite Wrestling's TNT Championship wasn't a short-term idea.
Speaking on Day After Dynamite, Fightful's Will Washington reported that Hobbs' title win had been in the works "for months" and people close to the former Team Taz member were told back in early September 2022 that he was going to win the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match and then the TNT Championship around the time of the Revolution pay-per-view.
Wardlow was also always scheduled to drop the TNT Title to Hobbs, although Washington believes the original plan was just for Wardlow to remain champion through the winter and then lose to Powerhouse. Wardlow instead lost the TNT Title to Samoa Joe at Full Gear, who then lost the belt to Darby Allin in January before The Samoan Submission Machine regained the gold a few weeks later. Joe then dropped the TNT Championship to Wardlow at the Revolution pay-per-view on Sunday, March 5. It is unknown why AEW decided to pivot to Joe as TNT Champion for much of the period between Full Gear and Revolution.
QT Marshall's involvement in Hobbs' TNT Title win was also in the works for several months, which was the reason for the angle between The Factory and Hobbs in which QT told Powerhouse that he owed him a favour.
Hobbs won the TNT Title on the March 8 edition of AEW Dynamite, defeating Wardlow in a Falls Count Anywhere Match with the assistance of QT Marshall.