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We’ve spent a fair amount of time over the course of AEW’s existence discussing whether wrestlers who’ve gone from WWE to Tony Khan’s company have benefitted from the move*.
Some cases are pretty cut & dry, others more debatable. Swerve Strickland is one of the former. In WWE, where he wrestled as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, he and the Hit Row faction he fronted were promoted from NXT to SmackDown one month and released the next.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in AEW, but there Swerve was able to create a connection with the fans (even as a heel, much to his nemesis Hangman Page’s chagrin) that propelled him to his current position as the promotion’s World champion.
What made the difference between those two outcomes? Probably a few things, but like the fact he’s been better off in AEW than he was in WWE, the one Strickland gave SI.com’s Justin Barrasso is hard to argue:
“TV time, that’s an investment,” said Strickland. “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.”
Strickland will be looking to give Khan more return on that investment when he returns to our screens on Dynamite tonight (July 10). AEW is teasing the reveal of which match gets the main event spot when they return to Wembley Stadium for All In next month...
Who headlines All In in Wembley?
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) July 10, 2024
What will Swerve and Will Ospreay have to say?
We find the answers to these questions and more when #AEWDynamite is LIVE at 8/7c only on TBS pic.twitter.com/PsAV9v9Zqn
... but Swerve started his campaign for the spot while talking to Barraso:
“There haven’t been too many African Americans to headline pay-per-views like this,” said Strickland. “That’s the biggest stage possible for All Elite Wrestling. It means a lot to me, and I hope it means a lot to a lot of other people.”
The history-making World champion against either one of the best to ever do it in Bryan Danielson, or his mortal rival Page? Or Will Ospreay, the rising English star, against the longest reigning AEW World champion MJF?
We’ll see if Strickland can seal the deal with his TV time tonight.
* As time goes on, we’ll likely spend more and more time talking about talent that have joined WWE after an AEW run, too.
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