AEW Champ Swerve Strickland Sees 'Ghost Of My Past' In Christian Cage Feud

AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland is just a few weeks away from heading into his first pay-per-view title defense, with former TNT Champion Christian Cage being the man to stand across from him at Double or Nothing on May 26. In recent weeks, Cage has had The Patriarchy beat Strickland down, rip a braid of his hair out of his scalp, and has even corrupted the former Mogul Embassy, who attacked Strickland on the May 8 "AEW Dynamite."

Strickland has a history with AEW's resident father figure, and during an interview with TMZ Sports, the wrestler/rapper detailed how he and Cage got to this point. "Our history together dates all the way back to August 2023 at Wembley Stadium, we tagged together," Strickland said. "I was the one that got put in the coffin by Sting and Darby Allin and lost. He has not forgotten about that, he has not forgiven me for that. I thought those things could've just parted ways and we would've just been good, but he's also fostered Nick Wayne, we all know what I've done to Nick Wayne, I've broke into his father's wrestling school and beat him down and bloodied him. If anything, The Patriarchy, the people that follow Christian, that's kind of created by me. All of the bad things I did in 2023 created my enemies now. That's my ghost of my past coming back to haunt me."

Strickland was originally set to team with AR Fox at Wembley Stadium, but Strickland turned on Fox a few weeks before the event as he didn't like how he went behind Strickland's back to make amends with Allin. In reality, Fox never traveled to Wembley Stadium due to AEW not feeling like he was 'forthright' about his ability to work internationally. 

Strickland has already defeated the likes of Kyle Fletcher and Claudio Castagnoli since becoming AEW World Champion, and will get the chance to gain a measure of revenge on Brian Cage on tonight's "Dynamite" broadcast. Despite his Double or Nothing challenger being a little older and less agile than the men he's already beaten, Strickland isn't underestimating the former "Captain Charisma."

"Christian is not someone you want to take lightly, that's a former world champion. That's a legend in this industry. Don't let his age fool you, the man still has a peak physique. He looks phenomenal, he's smarter than he ever has been before. Daggers on the microphone, people believe him and he's main-evented AEW pay-per-views before. So, that's someone I'm learning a lot from, but it's also someone I've got to be more calculated and a lot smarter then. Once again, he's a multi-time world champion, he has a tenure."

The AEW World Champion knows he will be at a disadvantage when it comes to the mental game given Cage's experience, but he revealed that he is in the best shape of his life, has gained 30 pounds since the last time he shared the ring with the former TNT Champion, and will have a number of tricks up his sleeve when May 26 rolls around.

Please credit "TMZ Sports" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.