A new report provides more information about the match between Will Ospreay and AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
Many fans were surprised to see AEW book the match for the pay-per-view. It was unclear how the bout would go, given Ospreay’s rapid rise in AEW and the fact that Strickland had only held the title for two months.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful (via Fightful Select) reports that, per sources, that Will Ospreay, a long-time friend of Swerve Strcikland’s, was tired of seeing the narrative that Swerve was a placeholder champion until he would win the title at AEW All In.
Per Sapp, sources said that Ospreay talked to AEW higher-up. He expressed that he wanted to put Strickland over to help get rid of this talking point. The report notes that Ospreay already has big creative plans in store for the year. With this in mind, he had no issue with it. Sapp writes that Ospreay wanted to set an example that for AEW to succeed, it had to be a team effort.
The report also notes that Ospreay made his approach after he won the AEW International Championship. It was noted that he wanted to show that nobody should be above losing to the world champion.
Update On AEW All In
Sapp also writes that a match between Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland was never planned for AEW All In. Per sources, different opponents are planned for both stars.
WrestleZone will have coverage of AEW Dynamite as it airs on July 3.
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