“Turned It Down”: Swerve Strickland Shockingly Reveals He Didn’t Wanna Be Champion in AEW After Dynasty

Swerve Strickland has finally made it to the top as he won the AEW World Championship at AEW Dynasty. In what looked like another win for AEW’s Final Boss Samoa Joe, Strickland swooped in the victory and King Swerve became the real king of the promotion.

But do you know that in order to win the championship, he had to sacrifice an opportunity to win another gold earlier in the promotion? Here is what Strickland revealed.

Swerve Strickland outlines his sacrifice to reach the pinnacle

In the post-show media interview, Swerve Strickland revealed that he had been guaranteed a title shot, but it wasn’t for the AEW World Championship title. Instead, it was the International championship held by Orange Cassidy. But he turned it down to wait for an opportunity at the top-tier gold title. He said, “I wasn’t gonna settle for anything less. Like I think I was offered opportunities at the International title, and I turned it down. Like, no disrespect to Orange Cassidy, what he was doing at this time with the championship, but like I can’t settle for less. And I want to shoot for the top”

And he surely did shoot for the top. After losing in a 3-Way Match to Samoa Joe and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page at Revolution, Swerve Strickland defeated Konosuke Takeshita. Thus securing a title shot for the All Elite Wrestling World Championship. And then came the toughest battle of his life.

The Battle for the World Championship

The match took place at the AEW Dynasty PPV held in Chaifetz Arena in Saint Louis, Missouri, and culminated with a new champion. The match had several quite intense moments. Samoa Joe uncovered the ringside protection to attack Swerve Strickland’s back and then tried to pile on the punishment by slamming him to the canvas, but his opponent quickly countered him. For his part, Strickland avoided Joe’s moves of forces and connected with two Swerve Stomps and an Axe Kick before he managed to take the win via pinfall.

With this win, the leader of the Mogul Embassy has officially become the first African-American World Champion in All Elite Wrestling. This achievement gives Swerve Strickland his first singles title in All Elite Wrestling, winning the AEW World Championship. On the other hand, Samoa Joe’s reign with the belt comes to an end after 114 days and three successful defenses. What did you think of the match? What did you make of the new champion’s revelations? Let us know in the comments.