When Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland formed an impromptu tag team on Rampage, it made more than a few AEW fans scratch their heads.

Since being signed away from WWE after their “budget cut”-influenced releases, Lee and Strickland have floated around the mid-card in AEW during the second quarter of 2022, securing wins matches against Max Caster, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Tony Nese but no real chances to compete for championship gold. They did, however, draw the attention of Team Taz, who began feuding with the duo both in individual contests – including a match between Ricky Starks and Strickland for the FTW Championship – and in informal tag team matches that also began to feature Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus of the AEW Tag Team Champion-holding duo, The Jurassic Express.

While some worried that the pairing had more to do with their former statuses as NXT standouts than in-ring chemistry, Lee and Strickland silenced any doubts about their in-ring potential and formed one of the most compelling tag teams AEW had to offer… for a while, at least.

AEW's pairing of Keith Lee and Swerve Scott worked, at least until it didn't.

Modeled after the classic big man-little man dynamic that The Jurassic Express road to their current title run, Lee and Strickland developed some incredibly innovative offense, including an absolutely crazy spot in their match versus Team Taz from back in April where Strickland used Lee's massive chest as a springboard to attack his foes on the outside of the ring – a move that rapidly became a fixture of their joint offensive arsenal – and found extensive success both in the ring together and supporting each other in singles action.

Though they were ultimately unable to secure the tag team titles at Double or Nothing in a three-team bout versus Team Taz and Jurassic Express despite their absolute best efforts, the duo appeared together again on the first AEW Dynamite after the Pay-Per-View and looked like they were on exemplary terms. Swerve showed off his new gear, compared the duo to Shaq and Kobe – which went over big since the show took place in the “Fabulous” Kia Forum in Los Angeles – and the duo even debuted their new tag team moniker “Swerve in our Glory” to near-universally positive feedback.

Minor setback aside, Lee and Strickland appeared to be on very good terms indeed and even wrestled a dark match in Ontario, California, in a trios win alongside Trent Beretta over Private Party and The Blade; the calm before the storm.

Fast forward to the Casino Battle Royal to decide Jon Moxley's challenger for AEW's Interim World Championship qualifying match on the Wednesday, June 8th edition of Dynamite, and “Swerve in our Glory” found themselves in the same grouping heading to the ring. They wrestled together, wrestled apart, and, after watching Lee take down three opponents early on, it looked like the pairing would have a long and healthy run towards the ultimate prize at the end of the match.

But then, it happened; clearly proud of himself for eliminating both members of the Ass Boys Gun Club with relative ease, Lee let his guard down and was unsuspectingly flipped over the ropes by none other than Strickland, who looked visibly pleased with his efforts. Lee, laid out on his back both literally and emotionally, looked up in shock at his current/former tag team partner's, um, swerve, and walked back to the back with his entire world, at least in AEW, thrown out of wack.

With the AEW Tag Team Championship, the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship, and the IWGP Tag Team Championship now out of reach for Lee, what with his lack of a tag team partner and all, the man Vince McMahon once wanted to call “Bearcat” has his sights set on an old friend turned new foe; with nothing fueling his pursuits other than revenge.

Could AEW opt to break off a feud between Strickland and Lee quickly, with the latter squashing the former before turning his sights to, say, the TNT Championship? Sure, that's certainly possible, but goodness, after feuding with Team Taz for roughly an entire Pay-Per-View cycle, why not make this one last a little longer too? Why not give Lee a few hoops to jump through before securing his ultimate prize; becoming an even bigger babyface star in the hearts of AEW fans than he already is in the process.

And hey, speaking of Team Taz, where do they fall into this equation? Did Starks and Hobbs put Strickland up to betraying Lee? Will he be a member of Taz's faction the next time he's on AEW television, or will the occasional Rampage commentator and his super-sized friend instead opt to side with Lee, who is the bigger challenge – literally – in the ring? Buckle up, folks, this has the makings of a classic midcard feud the likes of which AEW has been needing for some time now.