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AEW/Lee South
Swerve Strickland is still the AEW World Champion following the main event of the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, where he defeated AEW International Champion Will Ospreay. The two men threw everything they had at each other, but in the end, Strickland was able to outlast "The Aerial Assassin," handing him the first singles loss his AEW career.
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Since becoming a full-time member of the AEW roster in March, Ospreay has rocketed to the top of the card and become one of the most popular performers in the company to the extent that many believed his immediate destiny was to prematurely end Strickland's title reign. After the match, one fan took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to proclaim that AEW had made the wrong decision in keeping the belt on Strickland, prompting Strickland himself to reply with a simple photo.
https://t.co/46rRTF1vUP pic.twitter.com/8712JuA66H
— The Realest Swerve Strickland (@swerveconfident) July 1, 2024
Following their grueling war at Forbidden Door, both men will now turn their attention to different opponents.Ospreay is still the AEW International Champion and will defend his crown against Daniel Garcia this Wednesday on "AEW Dynamite: Beach Break" in Chicago. Garcia was on hand to watch Ospreay lose to Strickland — if things had gone differently, he would have challenged Ospreay for both the International and world title — and is presumably still hoping for a Wembley Stadium showcase with MJF at All In 2024. As for Strickland, he'll have to wait an extra week to learn the identity of his All In challenger: the winner of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. The finals will take place on the July 10 episode of "Dynamite," but the Wembley main event is still anyone's spot to win, with a remaining field including Bryan Danielson, PAC, Jay White, Jeff Jarrett, and a mysterious wild card entrant who supposedly represents The Elite.
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