When Grayson Waller commented to Going Ringside on SmackDown's return to Jacksonville for an upcoming show, letting fans know that he was excited by declaring “Finally, some good wrestling in Jacksonville. I feel like it's been years since we've seen some really good wrestling in Jacksonville. That's what we're bringing back,” it rubbed plenty of AEW wrestlers the wrong way. 

Sure, technically AEW doesn't have a monopoly over the capital city of Florida, as they only run the city a few times a year, but still, the promotion is based in the “Bold New City of the South,” held shows in the city almost exclusively during the pandemic, and having an owner, Tony Khan, who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars; if Waller wasn't shooting on AEW, what was his plan?

Asked about the situation, fittingly enough, by News4Jax, Swerve Strickland let it be known that he has no hate for Waller but does believe that he's way off base, as the best wrestling in the world happens in AEW, not WWE.

“Obviously [it was a shot at AEW]. I love the subtleties. This person that said that, congratulations on their championship gold. Amazing,” Swerve Strickland fired back on News4Jax via WrestlePurists. “You were awesome when you were watching me in the seats when I was being a champion over where you were as well. Happy to see where you progressed to, but let's be real, we are the best wrestling. Not just in Jacksonville, but anywhere. In the world. I stand on business on that.”

Alright, was Waller off-base to take a shot at AEW? No, no, he's not; as a heel, Waller often uses social media to take shots at other wrestlers, shows, and even promotions, making it almost weirder if he didn't shoot a shot at AEW when SmackDown booked a show in Jacksonville. Still, Strickland's return fire was right on the money, too, as he acknowledged that he was familiar with Waller in the past, sarcastically put him over, and ultimately noted that AEW has the best wrestling in the world, which is what the promotion is pushing to promote as their brand. All things considered, a pretty much perfect response from the World Champion.

Swerve Strickland reveals how he plans to elevate the AEW World Title.

After going to war with Samoa Joe in his second-straight AEW Pay-Per-View main event, the leader of the Mogul Embassy has officially accomplished his dream of becoming the new AEW World Champion, but how, you may ask, does he plan to make this run special? Will Strickland call up his old pal Rick Ross? Or will he instead focus on being a fighting champion, working matches on the regular to prove he's among the best in-ring talents in the world today?

Will, in an interview with One Nation Radio, Strickland explained his initial plans for his run, which should include plenty of crossovers that help to elevate the belt's stature and make AEW into a more well-known mainstream promotion for fans outside of the wrestling bubble.

“Crossover's always one of the very beneficial tools, but we don't want to overexpose that where it becomes a fact of you're expecting it. You kind of want to not expect it for it to be a really useful tool,” Swerve Strickland told One Nation Radio via Fightful. “So those things, I kinda gotta keep hush-hush because that's what's gonna make the title reign feel a little different than the other ones. That's a high bar that's already been set by MJF and Moxley, three times, Kenny, Jericho, Hangman, all those guys set a really high bar with this thing. So it's up to me to kind of find a new way to twist it and make it my own in such a unique way. But some of those activations and those little things are gonna be kept a little hush-hush, on the low, so you're gonna have to tune in and watch. That's the beauty of why Swerve is where he is because you can expect it, but you don't know.”

Alright, well first of all, good call by Strickland not to mention CM Punk by name among the previous champions, as it's always very interesting to see how AEW performers handle his very strange place in the promotion's history. Then we get to the meat and potatoes of the situation, which could include plenty of interesting outside opportunities for both Strickland and AEW as a whole. While his crossover ideas may not always work, as the Mogul Affiliates burned out in a major way, in the end, drawing mainstream headlines for AEW can only strengthen his case to remain champion long-term, fending off a white-hot Will Ospreay as he continues to produce as wrestling's best overall in-ring talent.