Throughout their memorable feud, AEW’s Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Adam Page put each other through the ringer, from Strickland breaking into Page’s house to Page burning down Strickland’s childhood home to some of the most violent matches in AEW history. And given how out there some of these ideas were, it would seem likely that Strickland and Page may have had to convince AEW owner Tony Khan to go ahead with them. But as Strickland told it during an appearance on the “Battleground Podcast,” he and Page never faced any resistance from Khan, though there were times they did things without telling him or other AEW officials beforehand
“We never got told no,” Strickland said. “We’ve also…there’s been times we haven’t asked permission for those things. They kind of just happen. Once again, we talk about those ‘in the moment’ feels. Like, we never had those, like ‘Ah, no. Bring it back.’ Yeah.”
While there may have been moments Strickland and Page winged it, two moments where that wasn’t the case was when Page drank Strickland’s blood during their Texas Death Match at Full Gear 2023, and the use of a hypodermic needle during their Lights Out Steel Cage match at All Out 2024.
“They knew that was coming,” Strickland said. “Yeah.”
Strickland noted that, as wild as those spots were, a big reason that Khan and AEW had no problem clearing them was because neither ultimately endangered Strickland or Page’s well being.
“Those aren’t, like, life risking things,” Strickland said. “Darby [Allin] wants to jump off, like, the highest part of the show, or propel down from All In Texas. Those are different parameters he’s playing with compared to us.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Battleground Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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