Swerve Strickland just can't wait to be king of the Pacific Northwest.
Swerve Strickland will defend the AEW World Title against Bryan Danielson at AEW All In: London on August 25. If Danielson loses, he will end his career immediately. While that is a high-pressure situation for Strickland, he says he is 100% okay with the fact that he will go down in history as the person who ended Bryan Danielson's career should be victorious at Wembley Stadium.
Speaking on Barstool's Rasslin' podcast, Strickland detailed the pride he and Danielson feel about their Pacific Northwest roots and said that he would be glad to take out Danielson so that when you think of the Pacific Northwest in professional wrestling, you think of him.
“100%. That’s one of those things I’m talking about being unique in a title reign. What’s more unique in my championship reign than ending the in-ring career of one of the greatest of our era, one of the greatest to ever wrestle inside a wrestling ring? He’s one of the pioneers…to me, his era of Ring of Era, he was the pioneer for what you get on wrestling television now, not just in All Elite Wrestling but in every company that you see, that independent style, that hard-hitting, the grappling, that pace and style, it’s truly been revolutionized and it’s made it to mainstream now, and that’s a huge thank you to Bryan Danielson for being one of the pioneers of that.
"It’s part of the reason why I do what I do and how I wrestle the way I wrestle, and why I look up to a lot of these guys the way that I do," Strickland continued. "Us both being from the state of Washington, there’s a lot of pride in Pacific Northwest in both sides of that. I always wanted to be the king of the Pacific Northwest and be one of the guys. You think of Seattle, you think of Washington, you think of Tacoma, and you think of me. There’s this overbearing shadow of Bryan Danielson. If I take that out, it’s just me now, so there’s a lot of pride in that for me."
Danielson, for his part, says that he will be at peace of his career ends on August 25, 2024. Read his remarks here.
Fans can check out the full card for the event here. Fightful will have live coverage on August 25.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a H/T and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
