During a recent interview, a top AEW Star has admitted that the crowd reaction for the Acclaimed at All Out was bigger than expected.
The AEW World Tag Team Championship match between Swerve In Our Glory and The Acclaimed at All Out was in the opinion of many fans and critics the match of the night. Even though the bout consisted of two babyface teams, the Chicago crowd came fully behind the latter in the second half of the match, leaving them less than impressed when the champions retained.
Speaking to Phil Strum on “Under The Ring”,Swerve Strickland reflected on how even he was caught off guard by the crowd in the NOW Arena, and the fact that it made the match much more enjoyable:
“That matchup, the reaction was bigger than I thought it would be initially, but I knew the Acclaimed was going to have a big reaction and I knew we would have to deviate a little during the crowd reaction, but it worked out better in our favour.
As a performer, that’s what you want. You want the crowd to exceed your expectations of what you present going into a matchup. They did just that, and that’s where it became really fun as an entertainer and performer. When you get to play with those different reactions from crowds and navigate and toy with them here and let things simmer here, and you know where things are going to go later in the match, that’s when you can start setting the table and letting the audience dictate how big things are going to get.
Me and Keith have been doing this for so long, and at such a high level, we were made for that moment.”
The former WWE star went on to add that it was indeed a pleasure of his and Keith Lee to play a part in creating the amazing moment the young team had:
“The fact that we delivered something like that as special with The Acclaimed, I don’t believe they had opportunities like that prior to All Out and to go out there and do that with them made it really special. We take pride in elevating new talent.
They aren’t new to AEW, but they are new in that spot, and we take pride in bringing them up to that level and showcasing to the world, ‘these guys have arrived,’ but they still have a ways to go to reach myself and Keith Lee. The extra icing on the cake is the fact that nobody expected us to do that. That’s kind of the story of my career, exceeding expectations of fans, critics, the locker room, wrestling media, that’s what I’ve been doing all my career, same for Keith,”
The two teams will once again go head-to-head for the titles at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, taking place inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.