{"id":221029,"date":"2026-08-18T11:58:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=221029"},"modified":"2026-08-18T11:59:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:59:26","slug":"aew-best-of-the-week-the-surprise-best-match-of-the-week-what-really-works-with-swerve-stricklands-return-plus-some-quick-gripes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/18\/aew-best-of-the-week-the-surprise-best-match-of-the-week-what-really-works-with-swerve-stricklands-return-plus-some-quick-gripes\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW BEST OF THE WEEK: The surprise best match of the week, what really works with Swerve Strickland&#8217;s return, plus some quick gripes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3494812901\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h2>Best Match<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Kyle O\u2019Reilly vs. Roderick Strong \u2013 Collision 8\/15\/26<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m totally being a jerk when I say this, but whatever: I never thought I&#8217;d be putting Roderick Strong under a \u201cBest\u201d banner in a positive way. Alright, I\u2019ll stop being a jerk now.<\/p>\n<p>You knew coming into this match that these two were going to have great chemistry in the ring and that we were most likely going to get a Ring of Honor type match &#8211; and boy did we ever. I loved this match. If you aren\u2019t an avid Collision watcher, I suggest you seek this match out and give it the 13 minutes of your time it deserves. I loved the amount of counter-wrestling that was in this match. You would expect that in a matchup like this because of how well these guys know each other. This was easily the best match of Continental Cup so far and really saved another lackluster Collision.<\/p>\n<p>One of my favorite spots in the match was the top rope back breaker Strong hit O\u2019Reilly with and the lariat that O\u2019Reilly hit strong with that absolutely leveled him. After the match, Strong shoved O\u2019Reilly to the ground after O\u2019Reilly went for a handshake and I\u2019m really hoping we aren\u2019t going to do the heel turn crap with Strong again. We have been there and done that. Strong came to his senses and picked up O\u2019Reilly off the mat, but when it happened in real time I was like &#8220;Oh God, don\u2019t do this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-8-12-keller-jb-discuss-strengths-and-weaknesses-of-omega-ospreay-so-far-and-what-s-next-new-day-hints-more--73888256\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (8\/12): Keller &amp; JB discuss strengths and weaknesses of Omega-Ospreay so far and what's next, New Day hints, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=73888256&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Best Promo<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Swerve Strickland \u2013 Dynamite 8\/12\/26<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was so happy to see Swerve Strickland on the show this week and I thought he did a fantastic job. I loved how he talked about the history he had with &#8220;Hangman&#8221; Adam Page, Brody King, and Bandido and how he has beaten all three of them. I loved him telling Brody King that the last time Swerve saw King he had him laying \u201cin a pool of his own blood.\u201d If you wanted to find a way to heat up the Trios Titles heading into All In, then putting a rivalry like Swerve and Hangman at the center of them is a way to get some interest boiling. Am I happy that Hangman and Swerve are at the center of a Trios Title battle? Not particularly, but at this point it\u2019s better than nothing leading into All in.<\/p>\n<p>The reason I wrote about the New Day at the beginning of this article is because my guess is that they are debuting as Swerve\u2019s trios partners at All In. I like this. It will help give the New Day an edge they are missing. I wouldn\u2019t mind a heel faction of Swerve and the New Day together running rough shot over AEW for a bit. I know that AEW fans are going to want to cheer for New Day when they first come into AEW. Putting them against fan favorites like Hangman &amp; Brodido is a smart way to help divert cheers away from the New Day.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-624142878\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Thoughts and Observations<\/h2>\n<p>&#8211; I think that MJF has way more hits than misses. His mind for wrestling is top notch. He has to stop carrying around the unofficial World Title belt, though. I cringe every time he has it on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; So Jon Moxley beats the hell out of Jack Perry, brushes off Jack Perry\u2019s counter strikes, and then beats the hell out of him some more. I understand what they are trying to do, but for me it made Jack Perry look like a punk rather than this scrappy underdog who wouldn\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; I don\u2019t want to watch Chris Jericho anymore. Please, make it stop.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The promo this week with Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega was the type of promo I feared we would be getting between these two. What the hell was that voice Kenny was doing? I thought it was a big miss.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Where is Thekla? Are they really not going to have her on this All In card in a big match?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; \u2026. Seriously, where is Thekla?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (8\/12) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Keuster\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vltq5cWKj10?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1521740105\"><div id=\"pwtor-4070011826\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Best Match Kyle O\u2019Reilly vs. Roderick Strong \u2013 Collision 8\/15\/26 I\u2019m totally being a jerk when I say this, but whatever: I never thought I&#8217;d be putting Roderick Strong under a \u201cBest\u201d banner in a <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/18\/aew-best-of-the-week-the-surprise-best-match-of-the-week-what-really-works-with-swerve-stricklands-return-plus-some-quick-gripes\/\" title=\"AEW BEST OF THE WEEK: The surprise best match of the week, what really works with Swerve Strickland&#8217;s return, plus some quick gripes\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,27,4488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists","category-top-five-lists"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-18-at-11.57.08-AM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221029"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221033,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221029\/revisions\/221033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}