00:00Does it feel like the most dangerous man in AEW moniker is kind of the sweet spot for this, this
00:05swerve character where it's kind of about the violence and the intensity and it's just depending upon who it's directed
00:12at.
00:12There's no heel, there's no, you know, baby face here.
00:15It's just kind of you.
00:17Yeah, it's a it's an energy that I carry on to no matter where I'm at.
00:22You know, it's that sense of like me walking into even a backstage segment of like just talking.
00:27It's like there's it feels like tension always rises up, you know, even like there's sometimes when I do those
00:34backstage segments live or whatever, I hear the crowd.
00:38Because of just having that moniker, it's a it's a it's an energy that I'll put on screen.
00:45It's like even when I'm doing like a talking segment, people feel like there's something like that can happen at
00:50any moment because they know all the history of what I've done so far with like people that I've like
00:55had wars with.
00:57Or people I was just friends with, you know, I've like done like took it to another level of danger,
01:03you know, and I feel like every time I have that like like that presence on a show that felt
01:10that sense of danger is always there.
01:12And it's in the back of the people's minds, even when I'm just having like a joyous conversation with people
01:17and like with like me and Kevin Knight, we can always have these interactions back and forth.
01:21Like just me approaching on people feel like, oh, they back straightens up a little bit more.
01:25You know, they're all they listen a little clearer, you know, so this is this energy and this energy because
01:33of the history of what been the sort of character has presented.
01:38What's the thing that that bothers you the most about will kind of hanging out with the Death Riders now
01:43and kind of entrusting things, you know, to them?
01:47Like I say, it was something that we didn't never got a true definitive explanation from from Will Osprey himself.
01:55We speculate we can kind of like here's the context clues when they had these conversations.
02:01And, you know, John Moxley speaks in these riddles and all the time and like there's hidden messages, but they're
02:06not defined.
02:07Like, like, like, what does he actually mean? Was this true intention? We don't really know.
02:11And the fact that like me and Will have separated for almost a whole year.
02:15Right. Like that's the first time you're seeing us back on camera together in almost a year.
02:20And we're two completely different men. We both like like he may he's making these amends with Kenny and these
02:26little backstage like moments that they have.
02:30And while I try to take Kenny out, you know, so like even the people that he's allies with, I'm
02:36not allied with.
02:37And the people that he's truly have his back now are the same people that hurt him in the same
02:42wars that we fought all of last year.
02:44So it's confusing to me. It's also like I'm also not as trusting anymore because of all these things that
02:50have happened over the last course of that year.
02:53So it makes me look at him differently and it makes me look at him like like I have to
02:59hold something behind my back to have these conversations at the same time,
03:02because now the same guy a year ago, I don't know if I had the same faith and trust in
03:08him for that's why I was saying straight to his face.
03:12I'm like, dude, you've changed. And like maybe you don't think you are because you're just being well, I spray
03:18in the midst of all this.
03:19But like just the midst of all this mix, it's so evident that, yes, you have changed.
03:24What might you have said to him when he kind of questioned like, hey, why weren't you out there to
03:28help me at all?
03:29And then he knocks the microphone and doesn't want to hear, you know, what you have to say.
03:33What's something maybe you would have said to him if he had let you speak?
03:37Um, it was I was in the same like situation that pretty much he was.
03:41We were both like banged up the night of Forbidden Door last year, you know, like I was when I
03:47had my knee issues, like Wardlow attacked Nana.
03:50So I was tending to him. You know, there was a lot going on that night in the UK.
03:55So I was like. Maybe my focus wasn't just on like, you know, Will at the time, you know, it
04:03was like there was like there was personal things that had going on, you know, that's also I felt like
04:10that was a call back to the last time we had a interaction in Will where like I knocked the
04:17microphone out of his hand when he was trying to convince me to be with like, like, oh, hangman's the
04:22guy.
04:23That's the guy we have to, you know, so there's a little like little callbacks to things that we've said
04:29and had these interactions with before.
04:32So much of the talk going into this season and going into all in is about, hey, this is Will's
04:37time.
04:37He's going to, you know, main event all in. He's going to win his championship in his home country.
04:42Do you feel like the idea of your kind of redemption story and getting back that championship after it's two
04:48years now is kind of getting lost in some of that?
04:51Yeah, it's being overlooked a little bit, I would say.
04:55Like I said, my story has always been the same.
04:58Get back to that world championship and get the power that I've always been like taken from me, you know,
05:04like fighting against the Young Bucks, like them interfering with me and like Jon Moxley at Dynasty last year.
05:10You know, the match that I had was a three way that turned into a four way because MJF came
05:16in and inserted itself into the forward the match to make it a four way at World's End.
05:20And so it's like, why are all these roadblocks just coming into the title matches that I've so rightfully earned?
05:26You know what I mean? So that's my story.
05:30It's like, no, when it comes to just me one on one, I am better.
05:33I am the best at this.
05:35You know, I would say even when I lost the world championship at Wembley two years ago, it was because
05:41Hangman Page interfered.
05:42You know, so it's like all these outside elements always play into like, you know, and that's why I need
05:48to, my quest for power is like been a barrier to take out all these people.
05:53I was like, no, anybody that comes anywhere near any of my title matches is getting fired.
05:58Anybody that comes anywhere near any of my opportunities again is getting disciplined and getting reprimanded.
06:04It's like, I have to play that barrier.
06:06So that's my redemption story.
06:09Like, oh, but I'm the one that's going crazy.
06:11I'm the dangerous one.
06:12I'm the one that's like, like unjustified with all my actions and the things I say going out there attacking
06:18people.
06:18I'm like, no, I'm kind of have a reason to because when it was happening to me, you know, it's
06:23like, oh, you know, it happens.
06:25I'm like, no, no, no.
06:26I'm gonna right my wrongs.
06:27I'm gonna be like the renegade in this whole situation.
06:30And I'm going to get my redemption my way, no matter what, you know, any means necessary type field.
06:35What would it mean for you to kind of go in there and crush Will's dream and kind of put
06:42that, put him in the rear view here and move on and get that chance to be, you know, champion
06:46again?
06:47Yeah, it's to show my true full potential at the top.
06:53And I feel like you still haven't seen the best of Swerve.
06:56Even 2024 as a world champion wasn't the best, truly full of all version of me.
07:00And I'm still not at that now.
07:02You know, so I feel like.
07:05Like, sometimes you do have to sacrifice friendships, you do have to sacrifice, like, your time with your loved ones
07:12and like the relationship might be a little like, like, damaged a little bit in order to get that.
07:18But it's like, what is what is what is it we're doing all this for?
07:22You know, it's not for the friendship and the love and like admiration of the peers is for the success.
07:27You know, and those are the things that, like, we're playing back and forth with what's most important to myself
07:35and Will and what we're willing to sacrifice, which is something I said to Will before our Forbidden Door match
07:40two years ago.
07:41I was like, what are you willing to sacrifice?
07:44And now it's starting to show, like, OK, he's willing to sacrifice, you know, something to try to, like, get
07:50to Wembley just to get to Wembley.
07:51Then he is going to have to sacrifice more to get the world championship.
07:54And you and MJF only had, like, one singles match outside AEW, like, in 2017.
08:00Yeah, yeah.
08:01Versa, what do you think of the job he's done as champion, kind of, you know, kind of driving the
08:06company a little bit now?
08:07And is there kind of an un-, because of that, is there this untapped potential for a swerve MJF story
08:13at some point?
08:14I think he's being, he's doing what is asked of him.
08:21But I don't think it's, like, MJF driving our company.
08:23I think it's the company driving our company.
08:25And that's how AEW's always operated.
08:27It's never by one person.
08:29I think he's doing a good job with the position that he's holding.
08:32But as far as, like, him driving a company, I think nobody, one person drives it.
08:36I feel like it's, like, a Kenny Omega drives the company.
08:40A Swerve Strickland, a Will Ospreay, a Samoa Joe, a Hangman Page.
08:44You know, the young crop of talent that are rising up to make, like, you know, the waves of Kevin
08:48Knight getting his opportunities.
08:50Kenosuke Takeshi Okada, you know, like, Don Callis' family all together.
08:55Kyle Fletcher.
08:56The women.
08:57Mercedes coming back.
08:58You know, for the long period that she did have on screen, it was Toni Storm.
09:03And then now you have Willows and you have Tekla stepping up.
09:07You have, like, the Divine Dominion.
09:09You know, these ladies, these guys, our belief system, our shows all together.
09:15The veterans, like, with the Hurt Syndicate, Jericho, you know, just, like, Cope and Christian, all these elements help drive
09:26AEW forward.
09:27Not one person.
09:28You mentioned Kevin Knight before.
09:29Just, obviously, it feels like he's beginning that journey to potentially becoming a world champion at some point.
09:35Just what have you seen from him that's kind of impressed you as he's, you know, obviously started to become
09:41a breakout star for you guys?
09:43Stepping into his identity and owning it, that's where I'm, like, I'm most impressed with.
09:49I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, he knows.
09:51He feels it now.
09:52You know, it's not uncertainty.
09:54It's not, like, moving with, like, in a tepid pace.
09:58Now, you know, he's very, like, and he's intent.
10:04He's moving with intent more.
10:06He's speaking with intent.
10:07He's dressing with intent.
10:09His look is with intent.
10:10You know, his presence on the screen is with intent now.
10:13And I'm, like, I'm even, like, I don't even want to know what happens next.
10:17I don't ask what happens next.
10:18I want to see it.
10:20Like, I want to see it naturally.
10:21You know, I want to be with the audience viewing it, your progression and your growth, you know.
10:26So, everybody, I appreciate the time.
10:28I know we're all happy and enjoying the fact that it's you and Will get to play this out.
10:33Because, like we said, it's been a year that we're now going to get to see you guys, you know,
10:38kind of play this story out for us.
10:40Sir, it's going to be awesome.
10:42It's going to be fireworks.
10:42And it's going to be a sight to behold.
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