Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland set for AEW Summer Blockbuster
Image: AEW
The second four-hour Wednesday block of AEW programming in as many weeks already has its feature bout as former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland will take on Will Ospreay.
The match will be part of next Wednesday’s Summer Showdown, a four-hour event from Portland, Oregon.
After the two argued along with Hangman Page last Wednesday, Ospreay was talking with Tony Schiavone to open this Wednesday’s Fyter Fest. He said he’s been a longtime friend of Strickland and rationalized trying to ally them against Jon Moxley and the Death Riders.
He took verbal aim at Moxley and his run as AEW World Champion and while the Death Riders are the biggest threat to Page bringing back the World title, perhaps Strickland is as well. He said he got the sense that Strickland doesn’t want Page to ever be World Champion as much as Page doesn’t want that for Strickland.
He then said he would take a bullet for Strickland, but would take a bullet for AEW first. He then called out Strickland for a fight next Wednesday.
It will be a rematch from last year’s Forbidden Door when Strickland successfully defended his AEW World title against Ospreay.
It’s the first match announced for the event.
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.