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On Wednesday, July 29 Cody will be defending his TNT Championship. His open challenge will continue on this upcoming week's episode of AEW Dynamite. The challenge has been accepted by WARHORSE and now all that is left to do is to fight.
Fight is exactly what WARHORSE will do. If the name doesn't sound familiar to wrestling fans, it soon will.
WARHORSE is a character who has continued to gain popularity on the independent wrestling scene. Often the best publicity is the one that comes from word of mouth. That validation by other fans will often be what stands out the most.
Over the course of nearly a year, WARHORSE's name has continued to grow online. Whether it has been in matches, his promos or simply overall presence one thing was certain about WARHORSE and it was that he clearly rules.
For many, no explanation about him is needed and to others, no explanation will be enough. Who is WARHORSE? Here are five things you likely didn't know about Cody's next AEW TNT Challenger, WARHORSE.
5. WARHORSE rose to prominence as a member of the Viking War Party
WARHORSE's start in independent wrestling came as a member of the faction the Viking War Party. While alongside Frank Wyatt and Alex Herzog, the group became synonymous with several promotions at the time including Beyond Wrestling.
Much like his time in Beyond, WARHORSE grew in popularity in other promotions such as Full Impact Pro, IWA Mid South and St. Louis Anarchy in the midwest. It was a young Warhorse — then known as Warhorse Jake Parnell — who needed to stand out from his peers. So from Warhorse came WARHORSE.
While the change to all caps may suggest we're being yelled at it, it should. The rather emphatic nature of how his name is written isn't unlike the very intense personality he portrays. As the faction grew so did the importance of WARHORSE. The Viking War Party was a successful team. However, much like any group, someone stands out as being the talent that could succeed alone. This is the case when it comes to WARHORSE.
4. WARHORSE went viral after an in-ring accident
While accidents happen in the ring from time to time it is what a wrestler makes of those accidents can define them. For Cody's next AEW TNT Challenger, WARHORSE, this was absolutely the case.
It was back in 2018 when WARHORSE faced Gary Jay in a match for ZERO1 USA and an incident took place that went seriously wrong. With the two being no strangers to one another because they had a longstanding feud at the time, WARHORSE had his mouth ripped open by the hooks of a turnbuckle.
It was a graphic, brutal injury but also helped show who the man was behind the character. The match could have been called but WARHORSE refused. Parnell continued the match to its end before receiving medical attention. That incident could have derailed a lesser competitor but this wasn't the case for WARHORSE.
For WARHORSE, this incident shaped what was to come.
3. WARHORSE debuted as an entrant in a tournament
WARHORSE had competed all across the midwestern independent scene. One of the more prominent independent promotions in the US that became home to him would be Black Label Pro.
It was during their Turbo Graps 16 Tournament where WARHORSE (the all-caps version) would first appear. What is interesting to note is that the event would also involve a current AEW star who was IWTV Independent Wrestling Champion at the time, Orange Cassidy.
Unfortunately, Cassidy would proceed to lose the title in the first round of the tournament.
Erick Stevens, the new IWTV Champion, would then defend the title all tournament long. Once he faced WARHORSE, however, Stevens' brief reign would come to an end. The win helped to usher in the rise of WARHORSE.
As an unknown coming into the tournament, Stevens wasn't able to prepare for him, and all of WARHORSE's competitor since have yet to be able to match him. WARHORSE being IWTV Independent Wrestling Champion is a big reason why he's Cody's next AEW TNT Championship challenger.
2. Transformation to WARHORSE from the ashes of criticism
WARHORSE stood out without question. It became his quest to be unlike the rest of his Viking War Party stablemates.
Unlike teammates Frank Wyatt, or "The American Viking" Alex Herzog, Parnell was the "Littlest Viking." Much like a younger sibling wanting to stand out from their older brother or sister, so was the case for WARHORSE. Face paint was the immediate difference from his Viking brothers. But it wasn't the only one.
His temperament is akin to a heavy metal rock star if they had merged with the energy of the Ultimate Warrior. WARHORSE was determined to do things that made him unlike anyone else and to prove everyone wrong, WARHORSE's rebirth at the Turbo Graps 16 Tournament was a testament to that.
For all the skeptics that he faced in the past, WARHORSE made that night the first night of the rest of his career. It was the birth of the man who would challenge Cody for the AEW TNT Championship.
1.WARHORSE is the longest-reigning IWTV Independent Wrestling Champion
For some, championships are just a prop. To others, they can mean so much more. Whether it's won or lost in a day, a week, a month or a year, a championship can mean the world in defining who a wrestler is, and the same can be said for WARHORSE.
The IWTV Independent Wrestling Television Championship doesn't have a long lineage, having been established in just 2017. However, there have been notable names to hold the title, including Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy, and the current champion, WARHORSE.
The longer a title is held the greater the value of said championship becomes. This is the case for the IWTV Championship. WARHORSE has held the title for 309 days and counting. After his win against Rickey Shane Page at Beyond Wrestling's Two Weeks Notice on Sunday, that marks his 38 title defenses over that period.
WARHORSE is now closing in on a year-long reign with the IWTV Championship. He has broken the record for days with the belt as well as the number of its defenses, setting a new benchmark in independent wrestling. This is what lies ahead for Cody as he puts his AEW TNT Championship on the line on Wednesday.
