“Poor Representation”: Tony Khan’s Swerve Strickland Booking Hammered in Comparison With Cody Rhodes After Winning AEW World Title

Tony Khan emerges as an easy target for critics for his creative booking choices. Since the company’s inception, wrestling veterans have constantly pointed fingers at the AEW head honcho’s inefficient management. Bully Ray continued that trend with his recent brickbats over Swerve Strickland’s means of clinching title glory. The New Flavor etched history’ in St. Louis, becoming the first-ever African-American AEW star to hold the world title. After months of pursuing the title, the 33-year-old overcame Samoa Zoe to claim the gold. While his segment ushered in a whole new era in AEW. WWE legend Bully Ray spotted some loopholes.

WWE veteran lambasts Tony Khan over AEW World Championship booking

Swerve Strickland underwent a meteoric rise of any wrestler in AEW in 2023. His bloodlust and ultra-assured demeanor have been an asset to rely on. While many expected him to clinch the title at AEW Revolution in March, his boiling rivalry with ‘Hangman’ Adam Page got in the way, leading him to test his prowess in a three-way match involving Joe. Eventually, it turned into a one-on-one affair with The Samoan Submission Machine. Finally, he got an emotional triumph on the final night, hitting a second Swerve Stomp off the top rope for the pin. That said, Bully Ray thinks that was not graceful enough for the new champion.

Pinpointing some legit questions about the bookings, the WWE veteran noted, ”Why is that guy in line ahead of anybody who has at least one win? Because he has none. I know why because they try to put some BS rules and regulations in front of us and then when it doesn’t work for them, they just go and do something else. I am not taking up too much of tonight’s show with this, but I was unhappy about it. I thought it was a poor representation for Swerve. I thought he deserved better.”

Comparing it to that of Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania booking, Ray continued, ”Cody Rhodes wins at WrestleMania 40 and he’s given everything in the world, he gets a champion’s welcome as a matter of fact, everybody who becomes a champion these days gets a champion’s welcome on the respective television shows. The next day Swerve got to wrestle against somebody who didn’t deserve to be in the ring with him and then we don’t hear dog s**t from him, huge mess.”

However, despite the criticism from a WWE star on its rival promotion, the AEW world champion showed his unwavering loyalty by defending his home turf.

Swerve Strickland deems AEW the best in the world

WWE’s Grayson Waller recently took a dig at AEW. He remarked that he was excited to bring some quality wrestling back to Jacksonville for the first time in years as a SmackDown visit was impending.

The newly crowned AEW World Heavyweight Champion took offense and chose to fire back. While interviewing for News4Jax, Strickland told Waller to accept that AEW is the best not only in Jacksonville but also anywhere in the globe. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for Swerve Strickland in his new championship era.

What’s your take on Bully Ray criticizing Tony Khan’s Swerve Strickland booking? Let us know in the comments.