Swerve Strickland return & new feud teased in AEW Dynamite vignette
Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland is on his way back and already has his first opponent targeted.
A vignette aired on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite showed a man walking in a Western town and finding a Bandido wanted poster on the ground. He then picked it up and the camera panned up to reveal Strickland and Prince Nana who handed him a lighter in the shape of a gun to set the poster on fire.
Strickland has been out of action since losing to Kenny Omega in a World title shot vs. executive vice president role match on the March 25 Dynamite. At one point, it was reported that his absence was due to filming material for WBD but a member of Strickland’s team denied it.
Since losing to then-World Champion MJF in January, Bandido hasn’t been seen that much on AEW TV in the ring, competing just three times — the last coming in the vacant TNT title Casino gauntlet match at Dynasty. Vignettes of the ROH World Champion in the aforementioned town have aired in recent weeks.
While the two have been on opposite sides of the ring in both singles and tag team matches, they haven’t wrestled in AEW. Their last one-on-one was in 2019 for OTT in a much different time for both men.
Next month’s Double or Nothing could be the landing spot for the high-profile match.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.