Swerve Strickland’s historic AEW World Championship at AEW Dynasty may never have come about had KofiMania not taken wrestling by storm in 2019.
At AEW’s most recent pay-per-view, Strickland won the AEW World Championship from Samoa Joe and became the first black AEW World Champion in the process. On the post-show media scrum, Strickland spoke about how Kofi Kingston’s journey to the WWE Championship inspired him to think big.
“Friends of mine, seeing friends like Kofi [Kingston]. The last five years was probably one of the biggest inspirational things you’ve ever seen. Not just in black history but in wrestling history period. And that’s motivating. That’s inspiring. And that makes me like ‘I want to do that for the next generation.'”
Strickland added that he has big plans now that he is the champion and was pleased that it didn’t take long for another black champion to emerge following Kofi’s victory in MetLife Stadium.
“I don’t want to just do it once. I want to do it multiple times. And the fact that I was able to somewhat recreate a feeling like that in just a small amount of time, not like 20 years later, 15, 30, years later. That’s progress in my mind. And it’s not just me, it’s a team. Nana’s a part of that. My people, my family. All of them right here. None of this happens without any of these guys together.
Strickland’s win is understandably huge for him and could mark the ushering of a new era, one that sees AEW leave the issues of the past behind. Whatever comes next, Swerve has done the work to elevate himself into the main event, and the future bodes well with him as AEW World Champion.