With one of the biggest lead-ins in AEW Collision history coming off of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat NBA Playoff game, “Neck brace” Tony Khan booked his AEW World Champion, Swerve Strickland, to cut his first promo with the belt in the opening segment of the show.

Needless to say, it was a doozy.

“Man, oh man, what a week we've had here at All Elite Wrestling. I mean, let me just run some things down. I mean, we have a new TBS Women's Champion with Willow Nightengale. Adam Cole, he can walk! Adam Copeland, he got misted in the face by the House of Black. Then we have Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay tearing the house down. And then, Jack Perry. Jack Perry returned to AEW and struck Tony Khan, our CEO, our founder of All Elite Wrestling, a man that put all his faith in me. On top of that, the EVPs, the Young Bucks, the AEW World Tag Champions, they come down here, and they put him in a piledriver, struck him in the middle of this ring with whatever they're naming the move nowadays, and now this man's in a neckbrace and there's no telling when we're gonna, you know, see Tony Khan in healthy condition,” Swerve Strickland told the crowd on AEW Collision.

“Now listen, I'll be the first one to tell you I've done some horrible things not only in this industry, but in AEW once, twice, three, four times. But, I don't know, something about four elite athletes coming down and beating down a fighter – non-fighter, I would say – in Tony Khan, that sounds like a b*tch move to me. But let's get to business: The most important thing that happened this week was Swerve Strickland winning at Dynasty, and he made history by defeating Samoa Joe and becoming the new AEW World Champion.

“Now, a little pet peeve of mine is people walking around calling themselves the ‘Best in the World,' but let's make no mistake, the real best in the world is whoever is holding this championship right here. Last week, it was Samoa Joe, this week it's Swerve Strickland, baby, and I got here by fighting, but that came with some sacrifices. The night that I won that championship, I went to my daughter. My eldest daughter, Aninia, she me looked at my face, she said ‘Dad, I love you, I'm so proud of you, but I feel like I just don't know you,' and that hit me to my core. My relationship with my children is everything. All the missed birthdays, all the missed basketball games, dance recitals, holidays, father-daughter dances, you name it. I can't make up for lost time, baby girl. But what I can do is set the example and blaze a trail as AEW Champion, and make sure this was all worth it.

“AEW has sent people in front of me, and I have knocked them all down. This past week, Kyle Fletcher was just one, and you what? I'm in a really good mood tonight. I say we have ourselves an open challenge, and I put this AEW World Championship on the line. But I'm only giving it to somebody who really wants to fight. So how about it, Jacksonville? We're entering a new era in AEW, am I right? This is the Dynasty era, and the lead of that Dynasty is whose house? Whose house? Whose, d*mn, house?”

Whoa, is that a CM Punk shot I see? While AEW should probably get away from that moving forward, as punching up on WWE can get taxing for even the most die-hard fan, considering the current hype surrounding TK, Jack Perry, and AEW as a whole is largely based around releasing the CM Punk, why not throw that in there to get people talking just a little bit more?

Tony Schiavone is proud to see Swerve Strickland as AEW Champion.

While Swerve Strickland had plenty to say on Collision about the state of AEW, Tony Schiavone, the show's lead commentator, had a quote of his own regarding the new World Champion on his What Happened When podcast, letting fans know that he's incredibly excited to see a very well deserved run with the belt.

“I think it's well-deserved. Swerve is not only a great performer, but he is a wonderful young man,” Tony Schiavone explained on his podcast via Fightful. “If anybody deserves getting the run, being a champion, it's him, and I'm very, very happy for him. I have a lot of time for him. Of course, I worked with him in MLW for a bit, so I knew Swerve before we all came into AEW, and I was really excited when we brought him in. So yeah, good job, Swerve. I hope it's a good, long title run.”

Will Strickland have a long run with the AEW Championship? Only time will tell, but considering how many top-tier talents will be vying for the prize, it's safe to say he'll be afforded plenty of chances to put on amazing matches and elevate his star power moving forward.