Swerve Strickland’s time in AEW is clearly going better than his brief WWE run.
Now creeping up on 100 days in his reign as AEW World Champion, it’s safe to say that Strickland is having a strong stint in the promotion currently. He’s coming off one of his biggest performances yet, beating Will Ospreay in the main event of Forbidden Door last month.
What is it about his time in AEW that has made things click so well? When posed with this question by Sports Illustrated, Swerve explained that the ways AEW has invested in him – from TV time to the personnel around him – has meant a lot.
“TV time, that’s an investment,” he told Sports Illustrated. “Tony Khan gave me that. He gave me that with top talent. Top tag team talent. Top managerial talent. Rick Ross. Everywhere, all throughout the show. That’s what everyone wants, and Tony Khan offered that to me. When you don’t get that, it crushes your spirit. I could ask for a minute in a promo, and Tony would give it to me. That means more than people will ever know.”
When asked about his match against Ospreay, Strickland had a lot of praise for the clash. He enjoyed that the match was made when it did, as he felt the bout could be seen as a genuine toss-up from fans.
“I’m proud of the story we told in that match,” he said. “It was a perfect whirlwind. It was Will’s first main event pay-per-view in AEW, fans were waiting for it, and people didn’t know who was going to win. Was it Swerve’s time? Or was Will going to keep riding his hot streak and win the title? That’s a match we’ve wanted for a long time, and the timing was right.”
