JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Swerve Strickland first joined the podcast shortly before last Christmas he made a bold proclamation. “Only to the top and I said in the middle of this year, if I had gotten the opportunities that Hangman Page would’ve gotten my first year, I would have been the first African American AEW world champion. And I do believe that. I can still do that,” said Strickland at the time. And over the weekend he made good.
Strickland arrived on the show with a brand-new belt he was given over the weekend. “Got the branding on it. The logo of my own. Who’s house? Swerve’s house?,” said Strickland.
Swerve Strickland is in fact AEW’s first African American world champion following a brutal match against Samoa Joe. “A brick that moves toward you,” said Strickland of Samoa Joe. “Doesn’t stop. It’s like that man is a force. He’s represented AEW so well over the past couple months.”
He says he knows his title victory is historic. “I’m so honored. I’m so prideful of being put in this situation and the history books like this to represent,” said Strickland of what him being champion means to young African American wrestling fans. “They feel recognized and seen and seeing representation. Someone that looks like them. Someone that kind of like seems so relatable.”
Now Strickland returns to Jacksonville for AEW Dynamite on Wednesday and AEW Collision on Saturday. Both take place at Daily’s Place and tickets are still available.
Strickland said he’s not sure Samoa Joe will be his first opponent as champ as Joe was pretty beat up during their match.
One thing of note from the interview is Strickland’s response to WWE Star Grayson Waller who appeared on Going Ringside last week and had this to say regarding an upcoming WWE event in Jacksonville: “Finally, some good wrestling in Jacksonville. I feel like it’s been years since we’ve seen some really good wrestling in Jacksonville.”
Strickland did not hold back on that not-so-subtle dig from Waller. “You were awesome when you were watching me from the seats when I was being a champion over where you were,” said Strickland. “But let’s be real. We are the best wrestling not only in Jacksonville but anywhere on the globe.”
Also, on this episode you won’t want to miss a star of bare-knuckle fighting. Lorenzo “The Juggernaut” Hunt is also on the show. “I’m the best bare knuckle fighter in the world. Soon to be hall of famer,” said Hunt.
Hunt is the current Light Heavyweight champion for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) and he’s fighting Mick Terrill on April 27th at “Knucklemania IV” in Los Angeles. Hunt is from Jacksonville and said he’s moving up in weight class as he’s gotten older. “My body changed, I’m getting older. It’s getting harder to lose weight and maintain those harder weight classes,” said Hunt. “I’m the 185 champ. There’s no challengers there for me. I’m the 205 champ. There’s no challengers there for me. The only thing left for me to do is go to heavyweight and become the first ever three weight champ in bare knuckle history.”