AEW World Heavyweight Champion Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay took place at the AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door 2024 pay-per-view event on Sunday night from the UBS Arena in Elmont, NY where they put on a classic bout.
Down the stretch of the bout, Will accidentally took out the referee before Don Callis walked out and gave him a screwdriver. Will decided against using it. This led to Swerve hitting with a running head kick, then the double foot stomp for 2 before kicking the extended right arm and hitting house call for 2. Ospreay went for the hidden blade, but he was out on his feet and fell, allowing Swerve to hit a driver with a head kick, then hit a driver for the win.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that “Ospreay, who has long been a friend of Swerve’s in real life, and a foe in the ring, grew tired of seeing that Swerve’s title reign was a “placeholder” for Ospreay to win the title at All In.” Those in the company and close Ospreay said it was Ospreay who went to AEW management to pitch the idea and push to put over Strickland to help eliminate this talking point as there are already big plans in place for Ospreay throughout the year.
He wanted to set an example that for AEW to succeed it had to be a team effort. The push came after Ospreay won the International Title and wanted to show that nobody should be above losing to the World Champion. Some in the promotion claimed that a “point was being proven” as a result.
Ospreay vs. Swerve at All In wasn’t ever the plan, and both have different opponents planned. Ospreay has been praised internally for helping those in the company with their matches.
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