Swerve Strickland’s missing AEW television time may be tied to much bigger backstage issues than fans first realized.

A new report from Self Made Pro claims AEW originally planned to continue the rivalry between Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega following their matches earlier this year, but those plans now appear to be completely stalled.

Speaking during a Self Made Session, Self Made Pro stated that multiple AEW sources said Swerve and AEW creative reportedly have not been fully aligned throughout parts of 2026, which may have directly impacted future storylines.

“What I can tell you is that I was told outright by a couple of different sources now within AEW that he and AEW creatively have not always been on the same page this year. So the bottom line is, he wasn’t really on the same page with AEW at different points this year.”

The report added that AEW had internal plans to extend the Omega feud before the direction suddenly changed.

“And I do know that the Kenny Omega–Swerve program was supposed to continue, and at the moment it’s clearly paused. It’s either paused or outright just not, you know, dead in the water. But I do know that at one point it was supposed to continue.”

The update could explain why Swerve largely disappeared from AEW programming after losing to Omega back in March. Fans spent weeks questioning why one of the company’s biggest stars had not appeared live on television, with his only recent appearance coming in a pre-taped segment involving Bandido on the April 29 episode of Dynamite.