The Acclaimed Arrives At AEW Dynamite Grand Slam

With over 12,000 screaming fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium firmly in their corner, Max Caster & Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed captured the AEW World Tag Team Titles from Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland during AEW’s “Dynamite: Grand Slam” special episode.

Towards the closing stages of the match, Strickland accidentally struck his tag team partner with The Acclaimed’s boombox, allowing the challengers to gain the upper hand. However, Strickland would bounce back by hitting a huge 450 leg drop on Bowens on the outside. Ultimately, Billy Gunn would get involved by taunting Strickland with a ‘suck it’ gesture followed by a Famouser. The Acclaimed capitalized on the assist by tossing Strickland back in the ring to perform some tandem offense until Caster hit his Mic Drop for the pinfall victory. 

After the match, confetti rained down the arena as fans rejoiced at the sight of Gunn, Caster and Bowens doing their signature ‘Scissor Me Daddio’ hand gesture.

The Acclaimed had previously failed to win the AEW World Tag Team Titles from Swerve In Our Glory at the All Out pay-per-view. Lee & Strickland had won the titles back on the July 13 episode of “AEW Dynamite” in a Three-Way Match against former Champions Young Bucks and Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs. 

During their reign as champions, Strickland & Lee had three successful title defenses – against The Lucha Brothers on September 14, The Acclaimed on September 4 and Private Party on August 17. It now remains to be seen if the two veteran wrestlers stick together as a tag team or go their separate ways.