Swerve Strickland explains storyline reason for AEW absence
Swerve Strickland posted a video to social media on Wednesday explaining the storyline reason why he hasn’t been on AEW programming.
Strickland hasn’t wrestled since the March 25 edition of Dynamite, when he lost a singles match to Kenny Omega. The match had the stipulation that if Omega won, he would receive Strickland’s number one contendership spot for the AEW World title, and if Strickland won, he would have earned Omega’s EVP status.
In the video Strickland posted on Wednesday, he stated that he’s not in Asheville, North Carolina for tonight’s episode of Dynamite. According to Strickland, AEW management is afraid of what he will do to Bandido.
Swerve Strickland comments on AEW absence:
Swerve says in the video:
“As you can see, everybody, I’m not at AEW right now. I’m not at AEW Dynamite tonight in Asheville, North Carolina. I’m here at home because of AEW management. They wanna keep me away from TV.
I’ve been shooting the last couple of promos you see off-site. I haven’t been at AEW TV. AEW management is responsible for that.
Shout out Tony Khan, thank you for having me doing some ambassador work for WWE events, for sending me to the NFL Draft to do the Jacksonville Jaguars fourth-round pick with Roger Goodell and everybody. I appreciate that, but you’re keeping me away from doing my freaking job, and that’s getting in the ring and hurting people.
The longer I’m away from the ring, the longer I’m away from championship gold, and you are keeping me away from doing what I do best, and that’s hurting people. And that’s why they’re banning me from AEW Dynamite because they’re afraid of what I’m going to do to Bandido. They’re afraid of what I’m gonna do to the rest of the people on the staff in the locker room of All Elite.
It’s going all the way back to what I did to Kenny Omega earlier this year. I’m a danger to AEW Dynamite, and now AEW Dynamite is gonna be keeping me away until further notice.
They’re gonna play games with my career, but like I said, I want power, and I want it all.”
Last month, Fightful Select reported that one reason Swerve had been absent from AEW programming is that he was filming promotional materials for Warner Bros. Discovery. Swerve also missed nearly five months between matches in 2025 due to knee surgery. He was out from the Forbidden Door pay-per-view on August 24 until his first match back on December 10.
Swerve’s full post is available below:
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.