Swerve Strickland Discusses Psychology Of Adam Page Home Invasion Angle In AEW

At AEW Full Gear, "Hangman" Adam Page will face Swerve Strickland in a Texas Death Match. This match comes on the heels of an ongoing feud between the two, which initially saw Strickland score a win over Page at AEW WrestleDream. Despite Strickland's victory, the on-screen heat continued to simmer, prompting Strickland to take this storyline to a new level.

On the October 25 episode of "AEW Dynamite," Strickland and his manager Prince Nana broke into Page's house, proceeding to rip up some of the drawings done by Page's son. Upon hearing a noise, Strickland then entered into the bedroom of Page's son. After pointing out that Page had cost him past title opportunities, Strickland placed a t-shirt in the child's crib, reminding "Hangman" that he is forever indebted to him. 

During an exclusive Q&A with Wrestling Inc., Strickland further discussed the motivation and the psychology behind the home invasion angle. "It makes it more real. It makes the consequences more dire," Strickland said. "Once again, there always has to be consequences to something that someone has said to my face. If you go up to me and say something or you take something away from me, I should have the ability to reach out and take something more personal than just like you took a title opportunity or shot to get to a title opportunity. Okay, I'm going to take something from you and that's your security, your home security, which as a man, is everything."

"That can drive someone insane," Strickland continued. "To literally sit back and watch another man enter your home and do whatever he pleases, that's the ultimate disrespect to another man, especially a father. He's sitting there watching and he can't do anything about it. He can run to try to go to the back and call, do this, but as a physical sense, he cannot do anything about it."

Weeks after breaking into Page's house, Strickland was then treated to a taste of his own medicine. On the November 16 episode of "Dynamite," Page and Strickland were scheduled to meet face-to-face prior to their match at AEW Full Gear. As AEW announcer Tony Schiavone reiterated, though, the two men were barred from attacking one another during the segment, or else they'd be subject to suspension and the cancelation of their Full Gear match. Page, however, found a loophole, attacking Prince Nana instead. Faced with the risk of suspension, Strickland could only watch on as Page assaulted his manager. 

"There's a lot of polarity and duality with these things," Strickland said. "It's like, oh man, Swerve came out after All In and dressed Hangman down and Hangman didn't get a word off. Now it's like he's fired up, he's taking his opportunity to dress me down and I can't say a word about it. I can't beat him up and take the microphone or else I get suspended. So we're both being put in places where we're vulnerable and we can't do anything, and that's madness in a lot of sense. That's madness. You're willing to do anything to get back on someone. And I think a lot of people can truly feel that and relate to that physically being handcuffed and you can't do anything. There's a great dynamic."

Stay tuned to Wrestling Inc. all weekend for all your AEW Full Gear news, including live coverage of the event.