Swerve Strickland to undergo surgery after AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025

Swerve Strickland will step away from the ring for a while. The former AEW World Champion will undergo knee surgery on August 27, according to a new report from Bodyslam.net. The news ends weeks of speculation about Strickland's health prior to his participation in Forbidden Door 2025.

Days ago, it had been announced that Strickland has been dealing with a meniscus tear since 2019 and was expected to take some time off from the schedule after Forbidden Door to undergo surgery, now Bodyslam.net has confirmed that the surgery will take place this Wednesday.

At the event, Strickland faced Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Unified Championship. After the match, Okada attacked Strickland's injured knee as part of the story, dragged him to the ring post, and hit his leg with a steel chair, this segment served to justify the wrestler's temporary departure.

With the surgery now confirmed, it is expected that Swerve Strickland will be absent from AEW programming for a significant period of time. The same goes for Will Ospreay, who is also dealing with an injury and will be taking a break. Thus, AEW will lose two of its main talents for a while.