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AEW President Tony Khan announced the following:
Sunday at Forbidden Door, I'm excited that, as wrestling converges @UBSArena AEW Zero Hour is going into overtime, some of the best in AEW + across the world fight for FREE worldwide, and with such compelling matches hopefully we'll continue our strong ppv trends + make new fans! pic.twitter.com/EhYktPOsir
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 27, 2024
Newsday recently talked to All Elite Wrestling stars Swerve Strickland and Maxwell Jacob Friedman, who were promoting AEW's return to Long Island for Forbidden Door this Sunday. Here are some highlights:
Swerve on some of the controversy surrounding the use of a flamethrower at Double or Nothing:
“As long as it’s professional and it’s being handled the right way, I don’t see an issue with it,” said Strickland, who noted that “a lot of risk was taken” during pro wrestling’s late 90s boon period, known as the “Attitude Era.”
“They would push the boundaries. I feel like it’s a different climate right now about safety and pushing boundaries on television in the world today. A lot of people are a little more cautious about things. I feel like, at AEW, we’re always going to get the reaction first, and then the emotional tie-in later . . . They’re going to react and say what’s on their mind, ‘Yada, yada, yada’ online. And the later on they’ll be like, ‘You know what? I did have fun. I didn't expect that.’ And as long as I felt like if we provide something that they just don't expect, I feel like we're always going to be in a great position in wrestling world.”
Swerve on why he thinks of Will Ospreay as his “little brother.”
“I've been wrestling him since he was about 19, 18-years-old when he was in the UK. I knew he was going to be something special before he even came to the States. I knew he had so much talent then . . . Now being here and on All Elite Wrestling in the United States, nationally televised product, it's only going to get even more scary for like a lot of the roster in the upcoming years. But I'm here to show them that there's still a lot to learn.”
Swerve on how he's grown since wrestling in NXT:
“From my time in NXT, I don't feel like I had enough time to really flourish and showcase who I truly could have become. So AEW gave me the time, gave me the resources, gave me the opportunity, gave me the TV time, gave me the opponents, gave me the story, gave me the matches—all to improve in a very short time.”
Swerve on whether we'll ever get that Keith Lee match:
“That's a question that's above my head . . . I’ve always been available and ready,” said Strickland. “I'm not going to work towards it. I'm going to keep doing and push them forward doing bigger things. And we'll see what comes on. We'll see how things align.”
The story also quotes MJF, discussing Swerve being AEW’s first black world champion:
“If you think about it, pro wrestling has been around for a very long time. And for a very long time, you never saw a person of color be the world champion, Five years of our company being around, and Shane Strickland was able to accomplish that,” MJF said. “That’s incredible. He’s still a punk. But that’s still incredible.”
The full story is here:
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