Swerve Strickland To Make AEW Return ‘Sooner Than Expected’

Swerve Strickland has not been seen in All Elite Wrestling since his loss to Hangman Pager in the brutal Lights Out Steel Cage main event of All Out 2024.

Reports post-All Out suggested the former AEW World Champion was set to take some time off from the promotion with it unknown whether or not he’d be back for WrestleDream on October 12 in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington. A new report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has suggested that Strickland could possibly be back in time for the pay per view after all.

Sources in AEW relayed that Strickland will be back on TV ‘sooner than originally expected’ with Meltzer surmising that a return for WrestleDream would make a lot of sense given both Strickland’s popularity, and the expected draw of a hometown hero.

Swerve and Hangman’s brutal war divided audiences and critics alike, with some felling the match was too violent, whilst others praised the character and story work by both men throughout the feud and the match itself. Swerve himself took to social media to defend the content of the match from critics.