Two Prominent AEW Stars Got Into Backstage “Scuffle” At 2022 PPV Event
New details have emerged about a backstage fight between two AEW stars following some uncomfortable interactions in the ring.
There was a backstage fight at the AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2022 between Swerve Strickland and Ricky Starks, according to a report from Fightful Select.
At AEW Double or Nothing 2022, there was a Tag Team Championship match between champions Jungle Boy & Luchasauraus facing Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee and Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs in a triple threat match. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus won the match. It’s worth noting that eight months later all three tag teams are no longer together because that’s the nature of tag team wrestling.
While Fightful reports that there were issues between Swerve and Starks after the match, this was the first time where it was considered a “scuffle” or at least a bit of a fight.
The story from Fightful notes that the issues between Swerve and Starks happened because of something later in the match due to an unplanned spot. During the match, Swerve attacked Starks after a pin attempt on Jungle Boy.
It was supposed to lead to Starks going for his finish, “but Swerve found himself doing nothing and thought it would be a better improv to get hit and dumped out of the ring, otherwise he’d be standing there watching it.”
There was apparently some sort of follow up segment on Dynamite that didn’t actually happen. Starks and Swerve made peace after whatever issues they had in the match and they are on good terms today. They were even part of the same match again a few months later.
Swerve and Starks are both on the Chris Jericho Cruise where they recorded Strickland’s Swerve City podcast together talking about this incident, so that should be out soon.
On the February 3rd episode of AEW Rampage, Swerve picked up a win over Brian Pillman. As for Starks, he’ll be in action next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite when he competes in a Gauntlet Match against members of the Jericho Appreciation Society.