AEW Releases Swerve Strickland Video That May Culminate With The Best Angle Of The Year

The kayfabe is strong with this one.

8/28/24 AEW Dynamite: Champaign, IL (Ricky Havlik) /

Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland has had an incredible year thus far.

At the start of 2024, Strickland was in the final stages (for now) of a white-hot feud with "Hangman" Adam Page that essentially changed his career trajectory. Their Texas Deathmatch months prior established the budding star as a legitimate main-event talent.

MORE: The Best Champion in Pro Wrestling? Look No Further Than Swerve Strickland

Strickland realized his potential in April by dethroning reigning AEW champ Samoa Joe to become the first black AEW World Champion.

Strickland carried AEW on his back as their champion while several stars were shelved with injuries or committed elsewhere. He turned back challenges from Christian Cage, Claudio Castagnoli, and Will Ospreay in a brutal thriller of a match.

Before Bryan Danielson unseated him in the main event of All In, Swerve signed one of the most lucrative contracts in AEW history. While the exact details of the five-year contract remain scant, it's rumored that few AEW and WWE talent will be making as much as Strickland.

MORE: Swerve Strickland Re-signs with AEW During All In Zero Hour

AEW posted an emotional video on X on Wednesday, showing Strickland and Prince Nana in front of the former champion's childhood home.

EXCLUSIVE: Earlier this week, it was a full-circle moment for former #AEW World Champion @SwerveConfident, when he achieved his lifelong goal, with the help of @PrinceKingNana, of purchasing back his childhood home pic.twitter.com/jPBOjHwYus

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 4, 2024

In the video, Strickland details the strife and poverty his family faced during his formative years. His family home was eventually lost, but the AEW star vowed to buy it back once he achieved success in the pro wrestling industry.

Success he has found, so Strickland followed through on his promise and bought back his childhood home.

MORE: Swerve Strickland Questions Timing Of Toxic AEW Workplace Rumors

@aew on x.com /

It's a touching story, but it also reeks of a work. The video comes off like a promo, but there's nothing wrong with that. Actually, it's brilliant.

With Strickland and Hangman's heated rivalry back on fire, and with Hangman's history of invading Swerve's domiciles, this seems like the proper setup for an arson-based angle to accelerate their blood feud.

This Saturday at AEW All Out, Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page are running it back in a classic cage match that's rumored to main event the show. Our money is on Swerve's childhood home being used as a narrative device this week or soon after the event. And, if this is done right, it may well be one of the best angles of the year.