Fightful has learned all the details on the mystery man that appeared as one of Swerve Strickland's affiliates on AEW Dynamite. During the segment with Keith Lee, Swerve had Parker Boudreaux and a mystery man with braids and face tattoos attack Lee. Sources have indicated that the man is Granden Goetzman, who has been training for quite some time in preparation for his All Elite Wrestling debut.
The 30 year old Goetzman was actually a second round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. He played professional baseball all the way up until last year when he played in Mexico. Listed at 6-4, Goetzman made it all the way up to AAA in the Rays minor league system before moving on to the St. Lous Cardinals and Houston Astros farm systems until 2019. The outfielder was primarily known for his speed, and didn't end up in the major leagues.
Sources had indicated that Goetzman has been doing some training at Jay Lethal's school. Those that we've spoken to indicated that this debut was planned out at the very least a couple of weeks in advance. He was also backstage at AEW Dynamite back on October 10. We've been told that he's actually been with AEW for quite some time anticipating his debut.
We're told that Granden Goetzman has done some training along the way with Matt Sydal as well.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select and was republished here on Fightful. If you complain about it being "old news," you have to buy SRS's shiplap. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.
To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You'll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski's Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp's Q&A, Retro Reviews and more