Swerve Strickland names his AEW dream opponents
Swerve Strickland would love to have one-on-one matches against Kyle O’Reilly and Buddy Matthews in the future.
Appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland was asked to name some AEW dream opponents he hasn’t gotten the chance to face yet. Strickland said he’s wanted to wrestle O’Reilly for a long time, with them only having been opponents in one battle royal before. He’d also like to have a match against Matthews once Matthews returns from injury.
“Kyle O’Reilly, man. I’ve been asking for Kyle O’Reilly for so long,” Strickland said. “We interacted in the battle royal, the two-ring battle royals and stuff. But that was it. And that was when Bobby Fish was still here [in 2022], you know?
“And Buddy Matthews. Like, rest up, hope he comes back soon, man. Because he’s a beast.”
Matthews is still recovering from an ankle injury that he suffered in February. While there was initially hope that he wouldn’t be out of action for too long, the recovery ended up being more complicated than expected and Matthews had to undergo surgery to repair the issue.
Strickland himself had been sidelined for four months prior to making his AEW return this past weekend at Full Gear. In addition to potential O’Reilly and Matthews bouts, Strickland told Van Vliet that he’d like to have another match against Kyle Fletcher now that Fletcher has leveled up into a new version of himself.
“He’s grown so much more since then. He’s grown, like, immensely since then,” Strickland said about how much Fletcher has improved since their April 2024 meeting. “So another match with him would be incredible.”
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.