5 Biggest Winners & Losers From AEW In 2024
6. Winner: Swerve Strickland
Alongside Will Ospreay, another star of this current era in AEW who had a fantastic 2024 is Swerve Strickland, who boasts not only a 29-4 win-loss record this year, but achieved the biggest highlight of his career when he defeated Samoa Joe at AEW Dynasty in April to win the AEW World Championship.
Having been viewed in NXT and on WWE SmackDown as a talent with a lot of potential, but stuck in the midcard title hunt at best, Swerve leaving for AEW in 2022 wasn't particularly shocking. But for those first two years, it seemed he might not be able to escape that misfortune, as he was lingering in the same spot.
In 2023, he was building steam for a breakout year, to the point that he was undeniable as the obvious pick for AEW's first black world champion.
Swerve held the title for a respectable 126 days—the sixth-longest reign so far—and only lost it to Bryan Danielson of all people, which is far from a burial by any means.
Strickland's feuds with "Hangman" Adam Page and now The Hurt Syndicate have also been highlights of this year, with his Lights Out Steel Cage match being one of the year's most interesting fights, and he was captain of Team AEW in Blood & Guts to show that this is truly Swerve's house.