AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland To Make Rare Independent Appearance

Written by Sondra Ruth • Published Jun 20, 2024 15:44 EDT
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland's Next Challenger Confirmed

Swerve Strickland is headed for a rare appearance outside of AEW.

New York promotion House of Glory announced on June 19th that a blockbuster match would be taking place at their upcoming High Intensity event on July 26th. Swerve Strickland is set to face off against Amazing Red on that night, marking a rare independent appearance for the AEW World Champion. The announcement on social media read:

BREAKING

Who’s House of Glory will it really be on Friday, July 26th as AEW Champion @swerveconfident
goes one on one with HOG Patriarch @AmazingRed_iOD at #HighIntensity ?!?!

Tickets Available NOW @FiteTV
https://tickettailor.com/events/houseofglorywrestling/1271031

Swerve Strickland became the first Black AEW World Champion at the inaugural Dynasty pay-per-view back in April.

Swerve Strickland Didn’t Want To Return To WWE With Hit Row

Speaking on the Smooth Vega podcast back in February, Swerve Strickland opened up about his fellow Hit Row members returning to WWE while he chose a different path for himself. According to the star, he had an edge over his former stablemates as he’d spent so much time working the independent scene prior to being signed.

“That comes from experience. I had a different experience than those guys had. I’ve known how to build myself from the ground up on the independents. I knew how to hustle, get here, get to there, put on performances and matches, and then go, ‘How do I get that?’ Then monetize that into this and make this into something.

Everything, throughout my career, and to this day, I apply; one thing leads to another and to another. That’s kind of how you see those little things in my entrance and my music, my wrestling, my look, the sound, all that was weaving together from going from here to here to hustling. That’s something those guys still need to learn.”

Continuing, Strickland said he had no interest in returning to WWE when they made the call to bring back Hit Row after firing the faction in November of 2021.

“It’s tough in that organization, WWE, it’s really tough creatively when you don’t have your hands on your creative, and it’s left to the powers that be to maneuver you how they see fit, and that’s not easy for anybody. For me, I was in a place where I knew I needed to be. I needed to be in AEW. When I got the phone call to go back, I didn’t even answer it. It was, ‘Nope.’” (h/t Fightful)

In recent news, a former AEW wrestler is set to return to the company full-time.