Swerve Strickland wants the Hangman’s spot. Following Adam Page’s victory on the AEW All Out pre-show last month, Swerve called out the former AEW World Champion for getting soft. Swerve pointed to the fact that Hangman had fought tooth and nail to hold the company’s top prize yet was competing on pre-shows less than two years later. Since AEW’s inception, Hangman made it clear that he wanted to be the company’s ace, a spot that Swerve feels he is becoming more worthy of holding. This laid the groundwork for Swerve vs. Hangman at AEW WrestleDream in Swerve’s hometown of Seattle.
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Swerve Strickland Defeats Hangman Page at AEW WrestleDream
Who’s house?
Swerve Strickland defeated Hangman Page at AEW WrestleDream. This was a home game for Swerve, as the usually popular Hangman was met with “f–k you, cowboy!” chants throughout the bout. Hangman played it up by using Swerve’s “who’s house?” taunt multiple times.
Swerve got into a groove early, dominating with his flashy offense and hitting the griddy on Hangman to boot. After some back and forth, Swerve regained momentum with a stomp and House Call combination, but it was only good for a two count. Things looked bleak for Swerve after Hangman landed a Deadeye, his reverse tombstone piledriver finisher, on Swerve on the steel steps. Hangman lined up Swerve for a Buckshot Lariat, but Swerve kept separation close enough that Hangman couldn’t land the strike. After getting the upper hand, Swerve held Hangman’s striking arm in a stiff arm bar position and stomped on it, rendering it useless. A stomp and a 450 Splash weren’t enough for the pinfall, leading Swerve to put Hangman’s injured arm in a Cross Armbreaker.
Swerve went for a top rope stomp but Hangman rolled out of the way, leading to a successful Buckshot Lariat, but Swerve’s manager Prince Nana broke the pinfall by pulling Swerve’s foot to the rope. Swerve then struck Hangman with Nana’s crown while the referee was distracted, but it only led to a two count. A couple of House Calls and a JML Driver led to a 1-2-3, giving Swerve the victory.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for live coverage of AEW WrestleDream.
AEW WrestleDream 2023 Card
- AEW TNT Championship (Two Out of Three Falls): Christian Cage (c) vs. Darby Allin
- Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
- Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: FTR (c) vs. Aussie Open
- Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, and Will Ospreay (w/ Don Callis)
- Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta
- Swerve Strickland def. “Hangman” Adam Page
- AEW World Tag Team Championship No.1 Contender’s Match: Young Bucks def. The Gunns, Lucha Brothers, Orange Cassidy and Hook
- ROH and NJPW Strong Championships: Eddie Kingston (c) def. Katsuyori Shibata
- AEW TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) def. Julia Hart
- ROH Tag Team Championships (Handicap Match): MJF (c) def. The Righteous
- Zero Hour: Luchasaurus def. Nick Wayne
- AEW World Trios Championships, Zero Hour: The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn (c) def. TMDK
- Zero Hour: Satoshi Kojima, Keith Lee, Athena and Billie Starkz def. Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Diamante and Mercedes Martinez
- Zero Hour: Claudio Castagnoli def. Josh Barnett
