Swerve Strickland has revealed that John Cena’s mindset helped influence his relationship with AEW owner Tony Khan.
Strickland signed his new contract in August of last year, with it being reported that it is “considered one of the biggest deals in company history”.
In a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland revealed the reason he chose to sign a new deal with AEW and how a story from Paul Wight about John Cena’s relationship with Vince McMahon helped him build “trust” with Tony Khan.
Strickland said:
“Everything. Me and Tony Khan were bonding as well. I didn’t get that trust yet from him, and once I finally did, not only just to trust to do what I want on TV. I think people think it’s like, oh, just do what you want on TV. It’s like, No, it’s not like that. It’s trust to be like, I need something done on TV that will work. You’re the guy to do it. That’s a different trust.
“I got this information from Paul Wight, Big Show. We’re sitting at catering one day. Also one of the times I was just coming off tagging with Keith Lee. So I was like, in that little singles void, which happens to everybody. It doesn’t happen just at AEW, it happens everywhere in wrestling, when a tag team has been tagging, then you split off into like, alright, what are these two guys do? Who’s going where? So he was just like, you know, one thing that I’ve always respected about John Cena, and you talked to the man, I was like, he always brought Vince what he wanted. He always made sure Vince got what he wanted. He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen, I sat in Gorilla and watched him, where before he would go out there, he would say, ‘Vince, what do you want? What are you looking for?’ And he would go out there and gave him exactly what he was looking for, exactly what he wanted. He came back, and Vince was like, ‘That’s what I was looking for.’ So Vince was like, That’s my guy to get exactly what I’m looking for, whether you agree with it or not, whether you like it or not, he’s going to come back and give this guy what he wants. And that’s why Cena is where Cena is.
“I was like, You know what? Let me flip my mindset for like, always thinking, I know what the best thing is. Let me just find out. What does he want? Tony, what are you looking for out of this? And if it’s just a good match, cool, simple. You got it. Hey, Tony, what do you need out of this promo? I need these things. You got it. No bickering back and forth. No, I don’t think it should go this way.
“I was just like, No, what do you need? How do you see it happening? How much time do you want? You got it. And that’s where I started building the trust with Tony. And that’s where things start opening up more and more and more.”
Swerve Strickland’s current AEW deal was signed prior to his past contract expiring, with a report noting he had “outperformed” what was originally signed.
It was also reported that the new deal will see Strickland in AEW until 2029, with Strickland saying: “There’s nowhere else I would rather be.”
Transcript from chrisvanvliet.com.
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