Reason for Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland winning the AEW Tag Team Championships reportedly disclosed
Swerve In Our Glory's Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland became the new AEW Tag Team Champions on the most recent episode of Dynamite. Details as to why that decision was made have now surfaced.
Lee and Strickland defeated The Young Bucks and Team Taz representatives Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks in the main event of AEW Dynamite on July 13th. This happened on the first of a two-part "Fyter Fest" edition of Dynamite.
The win marked the first championship for the former WWE Superstars since joining AEW, and Lee's first championship since becoming the NXT Champion in 2020. Swerve's last championship was the NXT North American Championship in 2021.
Swerve in Our Glory just threw a monkey wrench in the plans of FTR vs Bucks.
And you know what? I absolutely love it. https://t.co/j1GrQes48g
The victory caught a few fans by surprise on the night. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer noted that Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland winning the titles was the plan all along:
"The feeling has been that Lee & Strickland have had tremendous matches and they are going with this Shaq/Kobe idea of the large, charismatic upbeat guy with the other superstar on the team that doesn’t always get along," - said Meltzer (H/T WrestleTalk).
The only change in the path that led to Swerve In Our Glory winning the belts was that they were meant to take the belts off of The Hardys, not The Young Bucks. However, Jeff Hardy's suspension threw that plan up in the air:
"When Jeff Hardy had his issue and the Young Bucks got the tag titles, necessary since it was the Christian turn on Jungle Boy plan, they were set to immediately lose to Lee & Strickland." (H/T WrestleTalk).
The AEW President congratulated Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland after the show went off the air
There was some speculation as to whether the win for Swerve In Our Glory should have stood in the aftermath of the triple threat match. Many fans believed that Ricky Starks wasn't the legal man when he was pinned by Swerve.
AEW president Tony Khan took to Twitter to respond to these claims, stating that the referee's decision was final. He followed by congratulating Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland on their title win:
That speculation’s BS!
As always in @AEW + per generally accepted pro wrestling practices:
the referee’s decision is FINAL!
Congratulations to the new World Tag Team Champions
@swerveconfident & @RealKeithLee!
See you all for Friday #AEWRampage
TOMORROW
@ 10pm ET/9pm CT/10pm PT twitter.com/wrestlinginc/s…
An eagle-eyed viewer in attendance at AEW Dynamite managed to snap a pic of Khan congratulating Swerve In Our Glory:
Get you a boss that hypes you up like Tony Khan does to Swerve In Our Glory. #AEWDynamite https://t.co/L5POBSF8M4
Given that Tony Khan is extremely high on Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland, AEW fans will be seeing a lot more of the Tag Team Champions.