Swerve Strickland Notes AEW Moment That Caused Him To Be 'Seen In A Different Light'

At the inaugural AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view on October 1, Swerve Strickland, who was accompanied by Prince Nana, defeated former AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page in singles action. During an interview with "DAZN Wrestling," Strickland discussed when he began to notice a shift in momentum for himself and the rest of The Mogul Embassy.

"I feel like it was honestly — we were always being put in a good place," Strickland said. "We were placed on the show a bunch of different ways, but I feel like after the promo with me and 'Hangman' is where everything just, like, 'Okay. We gotta...' Boom. It was like a whirlwind. We gotta take this and fly with it now. And as for me, because I've always been delivering for a long time now, but then it was just like seeing me in a different light. That's all it was. 

"AEW has a ton of talent that go out there and perform, but something about my aura was just different. After being put in the coffin by Sting [at AEW All In], that aura — that changed something about Swerve coming out of it."

Strickland and Nana confronted Page on the September 6 episode of "AEW Dynamite." That night, Strickland claimed that The Elite member had become too comfortable in AEW. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion gave "Hangman" multiple options: move out of the way and let him take his spot, show everybody what "cowboy s**t is all about," or face him in a match. The segment ended with Mogul Embassy's Brian Cage attacking Page. 

Three weeks later, Strickland and Page went back and forth on the microphone during a contract signing for their WrestleDream bout; security ultimately intervened to stop them from brawling.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "DAZN Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.