All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) athlete Wardlow had to perform on national television Wednesday night in jeans -- and defend a title that he did not actually have in his possession.
On Tuesday night, Wardlow's rental car was broken into in San Francisco. The alleged thief took nearly everything that was inside the vehicle, including a wallet, laptop, sports gear and "many other miscellaneous personal items," San Francisco Police Department spokesperson officer Cristina Cistaro told ESPN.
Wardlow posted a video on Twitter saying that his TNT championship belt was one of the things stolen from the car. In the clip, Wardlow showed the car with broken glass everywhere and an inside that appeared to be ransacked.
"My TNT title, my gear, my boots, my whole life were in those bags," Wardlow said.
Might have new gear tomorrow. Will also have an abundance of frustration to take out to say the very least.... Damn pic.twitter.com/07un3lfhd9
— Wardlow (@RealWardlow) March 8, 2023
Wardlow reported the burglary to police around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday night, per Cistaro. No arrests have been made and the investigation is still open.
On Sunday night, Wardlow (whose first name is Michael) won the TNT title for the second time by defeating Samoa Joe at the Chase Center in San Francisco. He was then scheduled to defend the belt against Powerhouse Hobbs in the main event of AEW television show "Dynamite" on Wednesday night -- which he did without his normal ring gear or the actual physical belt in tow.
Wardlow wore a black tank top given to him by tag team FTR with the team's logo on it and black jeans. The match with Hobbs was changed Wednesday to be more of a street fight-style brawl starting in the parking lot, likely due to Wardlow not having his wrestling gear. Wardlow lost the falls-count-anywhere-style match to Hobbs and the title.
AEW has not commented on the situation.