Swerve Strickland must defeat “Hangman” Adam Page clean in their feud

It’s time for Swerve Strickland to get a big victory to move up the card and that win must come over “Hangman” Adam Page. 

AEW WrestleDream is taking shape with two big matchups announced. One features a budding angle that pits Swerve Strickland against “Hangman” Adam Page. To put things succinctly, Strickland is looking to take Page’s spot because the latter has gone “soft.” It may not be a super-deep angle, but it’s one that pits Strickland against one of the most important men in AEW. It’s time the promotion built new stars and if it’s truly intending to do that, Strickland must go over Page clean.

Page has reached the highest heights in AEW. He’s a former tag team champion and held the AEW World Championship. Beyond that, as a member of The Elite, he is consistently featured in angles near the top of the card. Fans will always love Page and his performances will always garner massive support. But it’s time that he takes a loss to Strickland.

Strickland is one of the hottest acts in AEW. His work as a heel is phenomenal character work, showing that he is much more than a beloved in-ring performer. Even with his faction around him, Strickland comes off as another level of end-game threat. And it’s time that AEW treated him as such.

During his recent promo with Page, Strickland said that if he saw the same opportunities that Page did during his time in AEW, he’d be the company’s first Black world champion. And he’s right. Four years into the company’s timeline, they’ve yet to place the main championship around the waist of a Black man. Even those who held singles titles in the company struggled to find any meaning in their championship run.

AEW can put Strickland on a path that he could eventually reach the top championship in 2024. But the question is will Tony Khan pull the trigger? Even though Strickland is featured on television frequently, he doesn’t come out on the winning side of feuds too often. It has been more than a month since he’s won a match, dating back to August 2 when he and AR Fox defeated Logan Cruz and Tyshaun Perez. It has been nearly two months since he won a singles match. The two biggest singles angles Strickland has been involved with this year saw him take on Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy, in both of those angles he didn’t come out as the consistent victor.

It’s high time that Strickland picked up a victory over a top name in AEW. Adam Page is that name. Page doesn’t need the victory at this time. He wouldn’t be hurt with a loss to a surging Strickland. If Strickland takes another loss to a top name, it hurts his credibility at a time when AEW needs more names, especially more new names, to be seen as top stars. And with another loss, it would be justifiable for fans to open the conversation about whether this company is going to put the spotlight on a Black male star soon.

Swerve Strickland checks every box for what is necessary to create a top star in professional wrestling. He’s poised to take on Adam Page in a few weeks, and it’s time that he finally picks up a big victory to move up the card.