Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee retained their AEW Tag Team Titles against The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) at AEW All Out in a critically acclaimed match that had the crowd buzzing.
Fans were staunchly behind The Acclaimed during the bout, biting on near falls and deflating when Swerve In Our Glory walked away with the victory.
Speaking to Phil Strum on Under The Ring, Swerve Strickland reflected on the match.
"That matchup, the reaction was bigger than I thought it would be initially, but I knew the Acclaimed was going to have a big reaction and I knew we would have to deviate a little during the crowd reaction, but it worked out better in our favor. As a performer, that's what you want. You want the crowd to exceed your expectations of what you present going into a matchup. They did just that, and that's where it became really fun as an entertainer and performer. When you get to play with those different reactions from crowds and navigate and toy with them here and let things simmer here, and you know where things are going to go later in the match, that's when you can start setting the table and letting the audience dictate how big things are going to get. Me and Keith have been doing this for so long, and at such a high level, we were made for that moment. The fact that we delivered something like that as special with The Acclaimed, I don't believe they had opportunities like that prior to All Out and to go out there and do that with them made it really special. We take pride in elevating new talent. They aren't new to AEW, but they are new in that spot, and we take pride in bringing them up to that level and showcasing to the world, 'these guys have arrived,' but they still have a ways to go to reach myself and Keith Lee. The extra icing on the cake is the fact that nobody expected us to do that. That's kind of the story of my career, exceeding expectations of fans, critics, the locker room, wrestling media, that's what I've been doing all my career, same for Keith," said Swerve.
Though Swerve In Our Glory retained at AEW All Out, the Acclaimed will have their rematch at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam.
Fans can check out the current lineup for Wednesday's AEW Dynamite Grand Slam by clicking here. Fightful will have live coverage of the event beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
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