After Sunday night’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view went off the air from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA Swerve Strickland addressed the fans about wrestling in the city early on in his career in the city, with a message directed towards WWE Hall of Famer Booker T.
“When I talk about representation, I mean it every single time I f–king speak on it. One year this kid right here that you supported for these last 12, 13 years – one year, five main event pay-per-views for Swerve Strickland. I don’t just speak about representation – I go out there and prove the f–king thing. And I only make it this far because of you people right here chanting ‘Whose house?’ Every single city, every single arena, every stadium—whether it’s the United States or if it’s in London, in front of 50,000, 80,000, I don’t care if it’s 200 – I always want to hear y’all chant ‘Whose house?’ Thank y’all for being here. Thank y’all for the merchandise. Get home safely. And one last thing, just for my amusement: f— Booker T.”
The MarkItDown podcast caught the footage on video and posted it to their YouTube channel, which you can watch below.
Booker T and Strickland have had disagreements as it pertains to Strickland’s criticism of how WWE treats their Black talent. Strickland has said WWE does not fairly market their Black wrestlers. During an appearance on VladTV, in part 10 of the series, Strickland said Vince McMahon used the N-word in front of him at the 2005 Survivor Series.
Booker T on a recent episode of his Hall of Fame podcast said he confronted Strickland about his comments when they saw each other at an event in Richmond, Virginia.
“You may not hear about a lot of racial issues with Booker T because I handled racial issues head first. I opened doors, I broke down barriers for people like Swerve Strickland. Swerve Strickland perhaps would not even be here if it wasn’t for me. I have to apologize for nothing that I’ve done in this business.”
Strickland was unsuccessful in regaining the AEW World Championship at Sunday’s AEW Dynasty PPV, after the Young Bucks returned and interfered in the match, hitting him with the EVP Trigger while the referee was down and thus giving Jon Moxley the win.
Quotes are courtesy of F4WOnline.
