Six months ago, Swerve Strickland was one of AEW’s most vile competitors. From torturing Billy Gunn to literally hanging “Hangman” Adam Page, Swerve operated under an “any means necessary” mentality to collect victories and ascend up the AEW card. In 2024, Swerve slowly began to scale back on the maniacal methods, putting a focus on getting the job done decisively and clean. This worked in Swerve’s favor, as he cemented himself as the No.1 Contender for men’s singles titles upon the return on the AEW rankings. Swerve’s gradual shift towards the light was foiled by Hangman’s subtle turn towards the dark, as the master of the buckshot lariat’s obsession with beating Swerve has naturally brought him towards villainy.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Swerve opened up about his face turn, noting that he still sees himself existing somewhere in the middle.
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“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.”
Taking that spot was the foundation of Swerve and Hangman’s feud. Hangman had been positioned as AEW’s ace from the jump, challenging for the AEW World Title in that championship’s inaugural match and eventually winning it in November 2021. Hangman headlined pay-per-views and closed AEW Dynamite on a weekly basis during his title run, but after he lost it, Swerve saw Hangman also lose himself, pointing to the fact that he was now competing on pay-per-view pre-shows as opposed to the main card.
“I feel like the villainy has worked. It feels like the AEW audience has definitely felt the sentiment of what I was trying to do and understood my motive,” Swerve continued. “Now they’re actually enjoying, not the act of what I’m doing, but they’re enjoying how I’m getting there. ‘Yeah, this guy actually does deserve it. This guy actually made several points. We see and we understand it and now we’re riding with it.’ Sometimes you got to do a lot of nasty things to get done what you need to get done and make the point that you need to make.”
Swerve and Hangman both challenge for the AEW World Championship at AEW Revolution, streaming this Sunday, March 3rd on Bleacher Report Live.
