Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland responded to his friend, “WWE NXT” star, Je’Von Evans’ impressive showing against United States Champion Sami Zayn on “WWE SmackDown” on Friday. Strickland took to X (formerly Twitter) to deliver a simple message to “The Young OG” after he appeared on the blue brand to answer Zayn’s United States Championship open challenge.
“Proud,” he posted, tagging Evans.
A fan responded to Strickland’s post with a quote alongside a Batista entrance GIF and said, “Swerve watches #SmackDown,” to which the former champion responded with another simple message and said he watches his friends. He chose not to address any tribalism from fans in response to either post.
Evans appeared on “SmackDown” ahead of his No Mercy match against Josh Briggs on Saturday. The blue brand was live from Orlando, Florida ahead of the “NXT” premium live event in Fort Lauderdale. “The Young OG” and Briggs have been feuding for weeks following Evans’ unsuccessful title opportunity against Oba Femi at Heatwave.
Fightful Select reported earlier in the week that more “NXT” talent integration was planned for the main roster. The US title open challenge appearance was Evans’ first “SmackDown” appearance since he tagged alongside Rey Fenix against Los Garza back in May.
