Former AEW World Champion resumes training for potential return
A top AEW star seemingly teased returning to the promotion with a recent post. The star being discussed is Swerve Strickland. He had a great reign with the AEW World Heavyweight Championship before losing the top prize to Bryan Danielson in the main event of All In 2024.
Not long after losing the championship, Strickland had to face his biggest rival, Hangman Page. Their rivalry peaked after the Realest star broke into the latter's house last year. Moreover, the Anxious Millenial Cowboy responded by burning Swerve's childhood house. The duo faced each other at All Out in an Unsanctioned Light Out Steel Cage match.
The brutal match saw both the stars cross all the lines regarding violence with multiple tools to keep each other down. In the end, Hangman jabbed a syringe in his mouth and then knocked him out with a massive chair shot to the head.
Days after the brutal bout, Swerve Strickland posted a video of him working out in the gym. He shared a three-word message with the clip, seemingly teasing his return.
"Back to form," he wrote.
Ex-AEW star Matt Hardy on the syringe spot in Hangman Page vs. Swerve Strickland
From throwing each other on cinder blocks to hitting chair shots on the head, the Lights Out Steel Cage match had all kinds of violence. During its closing moments, Hangman Page inserted a syringe into his mouth.
While speaking on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt said that using a syringe in a wrestling match didn't feel part of the story.
"Does there just happen to be syringes underneath the AEW ring, does Hangman keep them in this pocket? A syringe felt very out of context for their match. I mean, they haven’t done anything in their past stories where they’ve used syringes, have they? It hasn’t been part of the story," he said.
It will be interesting to see if Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland will cross paths in the future.