Swerve Strickland reveals who he thinks could lead AEW into the future

Swerve Strickland sees who he thinks will lead AEW’s future.

In an interview with Uncrowned, Swerve Strickland shared some names when asked who he thinks will carry the AEW torch in the coming years.

“One, Bandido, Ring of Honor World Champion,” Swerve Strickland said. “Two, Kyle Fletcher, TNT champ. And three, shout out to [Konosuke] Takeshita for winning the G1 Climax right now. These are all the guys that are in the spots right now, already being prepared for that for the next 10 years, 15 possibly. These are the guys. And once again, all cross-cultural, which is the beauty of it. Haven’t even reached their prime years yet, but all cross-cultural crossovers, all marketable, all look like supreme athletes.”

Strickland is set to challenge for the AEW Unified Championship at Forbidden Door, squaring off against champion Kazuchika Okada. Strickland sees it as a chance to set the tone for what the title represents.

“We have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders because I do fall into his era — his era of dominance and greatness of what he’s done in Japan. My era of what I’ve done in America, making history, being [AEW’s] first Black world champion, the main event, Wembley Stadium….we both hold a lot of responsibility,” he said. “Therefore, it’s all on us. He understands that, he sees that and he respects that. That’s why this also, [the] very new Unified Championship, we’ve got to define that early.”

Another AEW star, MJF, gave his own thoughts on the ‘pillars’ discussion within AEW and who he sees as the only two people who could be considered pillars.