Swerve Strickland Reflects On Recent AEW Match

This week's "AEW Dynamite" will be a massive show, with several championship matches taking place, including one where the vacant AEW World Title finds its next owner. Elsewhere on the card is one of the most anticipated rematches in company history when The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) get another shot at the AEW Tag Team Champions, Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland), coming off of their highly praised tag team match at All Out on September 4.

"The reaction was bigger than I thought it was going to be initially, but I knew The Acclaimed was going to have a big reaction," Swerve Strickland told "Under The Ring," "And I knew that we'd have to kind of like deviate a little bit during the crowd reactions, but it just worked out even better in our favor, and as a performer, that's what you want. You kind of want the crowd to exceed your expectations of what you present going into a match-up, you know, it was what you expect ... That's when it became really fun as an entertainer, and a performer and a professional wrestler was when you get to play with those different reactions from crowds ... That's where you kind of start setting the table and you're kind of letting the audience dictate how big things are going to get."

Swerve also noted that he and Lee feel a sense of pride in being industry veterans that can elevate rising stars like Bowens and Caster. "Just the fact to deliver something like that as special with The Acclaimed, like I don't believe they've had opportunities like that, prior to All Out, and to go out there and do that with them made it really special and a real special moment for them." While The Acclaimed had actually had a few shots at the AEW Tag Team Titles in the past, Swerve is still essentially correct, as all prior shots were on random episodes of "Dynamite" or "Rampage," not on a big stage like All Out.