After losing to Kenny Omega, where does Rich Swann go from here?

Aside from a couple of spots at the top rope, last night’s IMPACT Wrestling Rebellion main event between IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) World Champion Kenny Omega lived up to the hype.

Sure, we got some shenanigans midway through the match, but this was about showcasing the talents of AEW and IMPACT’s top guys in a clash to see who was the best of the best.

Unfortunately for Swann fans, their guy ended up on the short end of that conflict, as Omega drove the Baltimore native to the canvas with his patented One Winged Angel and scored the monumental pinfall.

Coming out of this huge match, most fans and pundits have a number of ideas for what’s next for “The Best Bout Machine”, but where Swann goes from here is just as compelling.

What’s next for Rich Swann after losing the double title main event at Rebellion?

“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”

This simple quote from ABC’s World of Sports encapsulates what makes sports such a compelling spectacle (aside from the breathtaking athleticism): the duality of seeing one person’s/team’s hard work end in triumph while the other side is left to figure out what went wrong despite their best efforts.

We saw a bit of this after the Rebellion main event’s conclusion, with Omega standing tall with Don Callis and The Good Brothers while being draped in world championship gold. But on the other end of that spectrum was Swann, the valiant former champion who turned in the outing of his life against “The Cleaner” only to leave the building with a little less to put in his luggage than he had going into the pay-per-view, leaving him to ponder where he erred during the match or if Omega is just that much better than him and there was nothing he could’ve done to avoid the inevitable.

This spawns several questions that are just as intriguing as the ones for Omega, perhaps more. How will the rest of the IMPACT roster look at Swann after putting the promotion on his shoulders and collapsing under the pressure? How will this loss affect Swann as a competitor and as a person? Will he be able to face his colleagues after such a crushing loss?

In terms of non-dumb avenues IMPACT could travel down — such as a Swann heel turn or him going the happy-go-lucky route on his way back to the midcard — there are a number of paths it could go with Swann.

The promotion could have him PRETEND to do the happy-go-lucky, everything is fine routine as a mask for his frustrations following the loss, which could bleed over to his in-ring performances. He could spend a few months taking on and beating a few upper midcard heels who chide him for blowing it against Omega. Most interestingly, Swann could take some time off, which would give IMPACT a chance to match Omega up with some fresh opponents for a while before Swann returns, gets on a hot streak, and challenges Omega to a rematch at Bound for Glory or next year’s Hard to Kill. In that latter scenario, Swann would learn from any mistakes he made and win the championship back.

No matter what IMPACT decides to do Swann, it has to make sure he doesn’t become the game show answer that Omega claimed he would be after this match, lest this historic encounter loses some of the emotional weight that was built up over the last few weeks. After all, the match couldn’t have been that important if it only affects one of the combatants, right?

IMPACT (and AEW, to a small extent) got much of the hype for this match and the match itself right. Now, it has to show that it can do the same with the fallout.