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A certain WCW veteran recently praised Swerve Strickland and his current run, leading to him becoming the new world champion. This was amidst some comments regarding how his booking as champion was not what many expected.
Almost two weeks ago at Dynasty, Swerve finally achieved his goal of becoming a world champion by dethroning Samoa Joe. However, in his first match since becoming champion, he competed in an eliminator match. Veterans and fans raged he was represented as the new champion, drawing a major backlash.
On a recent edition of Keepin' It 100, Disco Inferno and Konnan talked about Swerve Strickland becoming the first-ever African-American world champion in AEW.
The veteran praised his in-ring skills and his ability to speak on a mic, which helped build up his reputation.
"He sticks out. He's not sticking out because of the color of his skin. He's sticking out because he's an excellent performer. You know, he checks all the boxes, and plus, it got him over huge when he went out there and just torched guys on the mic out of nowhere... Bro, you know what got him over is the fact that Adam Page let him roast him on the mic, and just like took it, and just walked off, and that again made him a more important character... You don't want to go head-to-head with Swerve on the mic. He can roast you, you know,' Inferno said. [3:52-4:25]
Teddy Long was not a fan of Swerve Strickland needing to be called the first African-American AEW World Champion
Many names across the industry have praised Swerve Strickland for becoming the first-ever African-American AEW World Champion. However, in the case of Teddy Long, he did not understand why this was necessary to point out.
On a recent edition of The Wrestling Time Machine, the WWE Hall of Famer mentioned how they just needed to call him a world champion, as it was pretty evident at this point what his ethnicity was.
"That's what I wanted to say. The first African-American [World] Champion in AEW. Jesus Christ, come on! Let's just say the guy is a champion. AEW champion. They know he's Afro-American and they can look at him. He's black," said Teddy Long.
Earlier this week, Swerve Strickland's first major contender was revealed to be Christian Cage, and the two will headline this year's edition of Double or Nothing. This will be the first real obstacle in the Swerve Dynasty.
Please credit Keepin' It 100 and give Sportskeeda an H/T when getting quotes from the first half of the article.
