WARHORSE: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Cody's Next AEW TNT Championship Challenger

3. WARHORSE debuted as an entrant in a tournament

When WARHORSE came out at the Black Label Pro tournament he turned heads. Photo / YouTube

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.

**FREE MATCH ALERT**Over on YouTube, watch when WARHORSE took on Darby Allin at "Big Trouble In Little Crown Point" for FREE!https://t.co/sDop2onRPgFull Event: https://t.co/7SZDb6822GUse code "BLACKLABEL" for a 5 day trial pic.twitter.com/JUdtrvD0GL

— Black Label Pro (@BLabelPro) July 23, 2020

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.

**2 CUPS STUFFED**ORANGE CASSIDYvsGANGRELGet Tix:https://t.co/sQk12wmennGame Changer Wrestling/Black Label Pro"2 Cups Stuffed"Hoffman Estates, ILFri 8/30 - 11pmThis event will stream LIVE on @FiteTV! pic.twitter.com/tjU4ToZ7bh

— Black Label Pro (@BLabelPro) August 26, 2019

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.