The idea that Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee were free agents for any amount of time boggles the mind of AEW’s Tony Khan.
Keith Lee was released by WWE in November of 2021 after a three year run during which he held the NXT Championship as well as the NXT North American Championship. Two weeks later Swerve was released after just having debuted on Smackdown alongside Hit Row.
Swerve and Lee would both sign with AEW in the months following their releases, with Lee arriving in February and Swerve debuting the following month at Revolution.
When speaking with Brandon F. Walker of Rasslin’, Tony Khan questioned any companies decision to part ways with either man.
“Also, speaking of established stars coming in, Swerve Strickland and right before that Keith Lee. I can’t believe these guys got fired by any wrestling company in the world. I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking if you run a wrestling company and you don’t have a spot for Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee. I get that there are only so many positions in a company but I think any company that has those guys and, you know, it wasn’t like they’re unreasonable guys. They’re great! I love both guys. They’ve been a huge part of what we’re doing here now, too.”
– Tony Khan
Swerve Strickland and Keith formed a steady alliance to deal with Team Taz’s Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks. A tag team match has been made official for Dynamite this Wednesday.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription
