After watching wrestlers across the board set records for title reigns over the past few years, from Gunther becoming the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion, to Nick Aldis holding the NWA Heavyweight World Championship for nearly 1,000 days, MJF setting an AEW World Championship record, and Roman Reigns landing fourth overall in WWE Championship history with an incredible 1,316-day reign, Swerve Strickland's 126-day reign is nothing to write home about, right?
Sure, Strickland looked like a star, elevated his stock, and earned a massive contract for his efforts, but Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Adam Page, and MJF all held AEW's top honor for longer than Strickland and defended their belts more times than the “Realest” too. Can fans really appreciate what he's done in that context, especially considering the historical dominance around the professional wrestling world?
In the opinion of WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross on his Grilling JR podcast, the answer is yes, as the way Strickland lost the belt to Bryan Danielson is the sign of a true pro.
“He came to play. Yeah, Swerve came to play, and he came to impress. And one way that you — when you come to play, you come to play the game. And that means sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. The great workers know how to lose to where it hurts them the least, but it means the most. And they had that, that was something I thought was really cool. As best I know, he didn't say, ‘Well, I don't want to do that move. I don't want to do this. This is not protecting me, blah, blah, blah,'” Jim Ross explained on Grillin' Jr via 411 Mania.
“So he was just a pro all day long, and I talked to him for several minutes during the day. Again, you kind of get forced into these conversations, because they're the only people you're around. You know, that Wembley is obviously a huge stadium… But I enjoyed the h*ll out of the show. Those two guys stole the show. They were the main event for a good reason. Swerve did everything he could to make the transition to Bryan Danielson believable and smooth, and effective. That's the mark of a pro.”
After watching AEW fans get sort of sick of MJF after holding the World Championship for over a full calendar year, the idea of Strickland coming in, beating Samoa Joe, earning some massive wins over the likes of Will Ospreay and Christian Cage, and then taking a hard-fought loss to the “American Dragon” in a career versus World Championship match is about as a good a way to lose a belt as one could dream of. Why? Because Strickland looks no worse for taking the L and could easily be the man who ends the “American Dragon's” career later this year in a rematch. Sometimes, it's not about how long you hold a title but what you do with it while it's in your possession, and in this case, it's hard to argue that Strickland didn't thrive in the particular situation.
Jim Ross is proud of his pre-AEW history with Bryan Danielson
Elsewhere in his Grilling JR breakdown of the AEW All In, JR broke down his relationship with Danielson, which is rapidly clocking in on a quarter century. Though he may be most associated with his time in Ring of Honor, Ross wants it to be known that he's the man who really got the start of Danielson's career going; a fact he remains incredibly proud of to this day.
“He wants to slow down, Conrad. He's got two young little kids, he wants to be around them. It's no mystery, there's no secret or game plan, no covert action. I signed him to his first contract, which a lot of people don't realize. I signed Daniel Bryan to his first contract,” Ross explained. “He and a handful of others, we sent to Shawn Michaels School in San Antonio. That's where he got his first training. But I signed him for not much money, but he didn't have any money, and he wasn't making any money. So I signed him, and we got into a place where he could afford to live in San Antonio. He got great training from Shawn [Michaels]… so I signed him 25 years ago. And that's a lot of miles, a lot of bumps.”
Alright, so what's the deal with this story, as Danielson didn't make his WWE debut until 2010 unless you want to count a few dark matches in the early 2000s? Well, I'm glad you asked: technically, the first professional wrestling contract Danielson signed was with WWE, where Ross locked up his services on a developmental deal after getting his training at Shawn Michaels' wrestling school in San Antonio, assigning him to Memphis Championship Wrestling where he learned under future Blackpool Combat Club leader William Regal. While that opportunity didn't lead to a Randy Orton-esque run right out of the gate, Danielson took what he learned with him to Ring of Honor, New Japan, and beyond and ultimately used those lessons to become the best technical wrestlers in the world. Good on you for identifying his talent early, JR.
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