Swerve Strickland Challenges Wrestling Media To Find The Next AEW Star In Seattle Area

The state of Washington has given rise to a number of stars within AEW, and some of the biggest names were on hand for last night's AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view taking place at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. Speaking during the media scrum after the show, AEW star Swerve Strickland responded to a question about possibly bringing in more talent from his home state by throwing out a challenge to the media.

"I'm not even going to tell you," Strickland said. "I'm not even going to tell you who should be the next one up from this area. How about y'all do y'all research, and do y'all jobs, and y'all go find out? How about y'all show up to DEFY? How about y'all show up to these Seattle shows, and these independent shows, and y'all do some of the work?"

The AEW star then pointed to company co-owner Tony Khan, imploring the media in attendance to go to these shows and report on what they see rather than relying on Khan to find new talent. Strickland believes this could help create the next big wrestling star from the area. According to Strickland, he had to go about things "the hard way" while someone like Nick Wayne was brought in at a very young age. Strickland said that he hopes more people can come up like Wayne rather than having to fight their way to the top over the years.

In addition to Strickland and Wayne, AEW stars Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin, and referee Aubrey Edwards all hail from the state of Washington. The pay-per-view saw Danielson successfully defeat Zack Sabre Jr. with Edwards as the referee, while Strickland defeated "Hangman" Adam Page in his AEW pay-per-view singles debut, and Allin unsuccessfully challenged Christian Cage for the TNT Championship in the show's main event.