#172: Jay White vs. Swerve Strickland, AEW Dynamite (11/29/2023).
This is a Continental Classic Gold League Match.
Swerve is coming out of Full Gear with monster momentum, following his legendary Texas Death Match with Hangman Page. Jay White is coming off of a loss to MJF that many believed really hurt his momentum due to how overbooked it was.
The bell sounds, and the crowd is very much behind Swerve. They lock up, and Swerve gets White into the turnbuckle. White gets the upper hand and drives his shoulder into the midsection. He takes Swerve to the floor quickly and tosses him into the barricade. Swerve turns it around, and whips White into the barricade as well. Both men end up back in the ring, and White stays ahead by working on the injured shoulder. He chops Swerve in the corner, but Swerve returns the favor.
White knocks Swerve off the apron, and goes for a Tope, but Swerve catches him and gives him a back suplex onto the barricade! Swerve jumps off the apron and connects with a double stomp to White’s back. Now back in the ring, White grabs Swerve on the way in and plants him with a DDT. He mocks Swerve’s House, and chops him a few times. Both end up back on the floor, and Swerve hits a nice backbreaker to White. He goes to the apron, and hits a running boot right to the face.
Back in the ring, White grabs Swerve and suplexes him over the top rope and back to the floor. Inverted suplex sees Swerve’s chest and shoulder land hard on the apron, and White follows that by sending Swerve shoulder first into the steel steps. In the ring, White hammerlocks the injured shoulder. Swerve is back to his feet, with some hard chops to the chest. Saito Suplex by White, and then an over-under toss into the middle turnbuckle. That gets White a 2 count.
White tries to hammerlock the arm, but Swerve escapes and hits a nice back suplex. Swerve looks for the Flat Liner, and White looks for the Urinage, and Swerve hits the Flat Liner finally. He follows that with a vertical suplex for 2. White spikes Swerve with an STO, and then a release German Suplex. Swerve is right back up with a discus lariat! They butt heads on the mat, and once back to their feet, they throw forearms.
White is able to chop block the leg of Swerve, then hit a huge Urinage for a nearfall. White blocks a back elbow and traps Swerve in the Fujiwara Armbar. Swerve is able to escape, and traps White’s arm. He uses his boot to snap the arm back in a sick way. A Killshot, if you will. Swerve blocks a low blow attempt, and drops White with a back breaker. Nice House Call kick by Swerve, and he goes to the top rope now. He comes down with the Swerve Stomp flush, but damn, Jay White somehow kicks out of that.
Swerve lifts White up, who’s able to hit the Blade Runner out of nowhere. Swerve wisely rolls to the floor. White brings him back inside, and gets a school boy roll up for a close nearfall. White looks for Blade Runner again, and Swerve tries for the JML Driver. They exchange chops, as we get the five minute call. Sleeper Suplex connects, and White tries for Blade Runner again, but Swerve turns it into a roll up for the win out of nowhere!
This was a solid encounter between two of my favorite performers in all of wrestling. It had a big fight feel, and a hot crowd. Swerve had a ton of momentum coming into this following Full Gear, so him winning was the right choice, and the roll up helps protect Jay White. I could've done without all the stuff on the outside. I did think it got excessive after a while.
There was good psychology from Jay in targeting the hurt shoulder of Swerve. He wrestled a smart match, and in my opinion, he simply got caught in a quick roll up. A great TV match, though I have to admit, I definitely think these two have a much better match in their arsenal.