Swerve Strickland Has Been Working Hurt Since 2019 (AEW News)
One of AEW's most dependable wrestlers has knee issues and needs surgery.
Fightful Select is reporting that workhorse wrestler Swerve Strickland has been dealing with a pesky issue since 2019. Yes, the man has genuinely been wrestling through a torn meniscus for approx 6 years now - Swerve first tore up his knee whilst training at WWE's Performance Center, and it hasn't been right since.
Remarkably, he's gone on to achieve huge success in spite of the injury. After leaving WWE in 2021, Strickland found his way to AEW as a heavily hyped free agent, and he'd eventually become AEW World Champion on 21 April 2024. A win over Samoa Joe at Dynasty that year cemented Swerve as one of the company's top names.
He'd hold the belt for 4 months before dropping it to Bryan Danielson at All In London that August.
Fightful noted that a recent angle on AEW TV is based on Strickland's very-real knee problems. AEW announcers referenced in-house doctors checking on Swerve during the 13 August edition of Dynamite, and there was some truth to that. In short, docs have been "checking on" Strickland for years now.
Back in 2019, he decided to rest the injury for a short spell of 4 weeks before resuming his training. In recent times, members of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars medical team have been attending to Swerve and making sure he's fit enough to work. Fightful say "there is a possibility he could require surgery and time off" soon; Strickland was earmarked to take a breather following All In Texas, but that didn't happen in the end.
This weekend's joint effort Forbidden Door 2025 pay-per-view (produced by AEW and New Japan) sees Swerve challenge Kazuchika Okada for AEW's Unified Title. That will be Okada's first title defence since unifying the Continental and International straps by beating Kenny Omega at All In last month.