AEW’s Wardlow has said it’s cool for him to be compared to former WWE World Heavyweight Champion turned movie star Dave Batista.

Wardlow turned face at AEW’s recent Revolution Pay Per View by turning on MJF and won the face of the Revolution ladder match on the same night.

With his size and use of the powerbomb, many have compared Wardlow to Batista, and the AEW star was all for it in an interview with the Bleav in Pro Wrestling podcast:

“It just makes me smile. 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 will challenge Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship tonight on AEW Dynamite.