Swerve was a footnote on his first Dynamite as AEW World champ

We had questions as soon as it was announced late Tuesday that the first thing Swerve Strickland would do on television as AEW World champion would be to face Kyle Fletcher in a Title Eliminator match on the April 24 Dynamite.

Fletcher may be Ring of Honor Television champ, but he hasn’t won a match in AEW this year. What happened to the Rankings?

Sure, we can see that they want to establish Swerve as a fighting champion while also reminding us that AEW isn’t a place where every new titleholder’s first act is a 20 minute promo. Fletcher’s Callis Family ties can also be used to eventually get Strickland to the Will Ospreay feud so many of us were fantasy booking before Swerve even beat Samoa Joe for the strap at Dynasty.

But while we did get some added tension between Don Callis and his Family when Fletcher ignored Don’s instructions to get a table from under the ring, opting to lose clean instead, we left this one with no clear indication of Swerve’s next move (it was announced that his Double or Nothing challenger will be revealed next Wednesday). The champ won clean, but this was a very back-and-forth match when a statement win probably would have been better.

It also felt weird that Strickland didn’t get any mic time. New FTW champ Chris Jericho did, and Willow Nightingale got a chance to celebrate becoming the fourth-ever TBS titleholder. Swerve’s entrance felt like a party, but it would have been nice to let us spend a little more time with him after his history-making PPV victory.

Hell, it’s a trope, but having Callis cut off a promo from the new champ would have been a better way to set-up Strickland vs. Fletcher than booking a seemingly random Eliminator match.

And this is without even getting into how Swerve’s match went picture-in-picture for a few seconds while we watched The Elite knock on Tony Khan’s door. Or how another company’s top belt (New Japan’s IWGP World title, which is around the waist of a bigger, more established star in Jon Moxley, but still…) got a higher profile spot on last night’s card, and a was defended against a Callis Family member with a winning record in Powerhouse Hobbs.

We still have high hopes for Strickland’s reign, and our opinion could change completely depending on how next week’s Dynamite plays out. But given legitimate criticisms about how AEW has followed up other big moments like Swerve’s coronation at Dynasty… they’re going to need do better than this to realize those our hopes.

Let us know what you think in the comments below. And on your way down there, check out the rest of the highlights from last night’s Dynamite — including Swerve vs. Fletcher — in the following playlist:

• Who is Chuck Taylor’s TRUE “Best Friend”? Orange Cassidy or Trent Beretta?
• Stardom’s Mina Shirakawa makes her AEW in-ring DEBUT vs Anna Jay!
• Willow Nightingale CELEBRATES becoming the NEW TBS Champion… Enter MONÉ!
• Will Ospreay SHINES! Casino Gauntlet Match for an International Title Shot!
• Who chose to sit under the Learning Tree & NEW FTW Champion, Chris Jericho?
• IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley in his 1st defense vs Powerhouse Hobbs!
• WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Jack Perry puts his hands on AEW CEO & GM, Tony Khan!

For complete results from Dynamite click here. To read a recap & review of the show, click here.