Wednesday’s new episode of AEW Dynamite, also known as Big Business, was all about the long-awaited debut of Merdeces Mone. However, there were still a lot of great wrestling matches on the card, including a heavy-hitting title defense for current AEW World Champion Samoa Joe. After winning a title shot at Revolution, Wardlow put a challenge out to Samoa Joe, and the two settled things in the ring on Wednesday night.
When it comes to sheer size, Wardlow is undoubtedly the biggest challenge Joe has faced in his tenure as champion, but he still didn’t have enough to take the World Championship away. Despite a great performance by Wardlow, Samoa Joe put the behemoth in his signature chokehold, forcing his way to a victory.
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Perhaps even more important than the match itself was the confrontation after the bell rang. Swerve Strickland, still fuming from Samoa Joe’s attack last week, had to be physically restrained by several AEW security guards. Swerve made it clear that he has unfinished business with Samoa Joe, and it appears he might finally get his one-on-one match with the champion in the not-too-distant future.
Swerve’s Unexpected Face-Turn
Swerve has been one of AEW’s top heels ever since he and Keith Lee called it quits as a tag team. His rivalry with Hangman Page saw him break into a newborn baby’s nursery, just to prove a point to his opponent that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to get his hands on the AEW World Championship.
Around Revolution, however, a shift occurred, and Swerve started displaying more heroic behavior. He slowly became the face to Samoa Joe’s heel, and the fans have been loving it. He continues to get some of the biggest reactions of the whole AEW roster, setting him up for a historic run at the World Championship at some point soon.
Samoa Joe still stands in his way, but Swerve is as determined as ever, and he now has the crowd behind him. During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Strickland opened up about unexpected turn.
“Right now I feel like I’m just being in a shade of gray,” Swerve said. “Especially because the whole point of the whole villain was to, like I stated before, get into the opportunities that I would’ve gotten if I was in Hangman Page’s spot years ago. I’m there now. I’m getting my title opportunity and I’m slowly, slowly pushing Hangman Page out of the way to get those things.”
