Having signed with AEW in 2022, Swerve Strickland has opened up about his decision to remain with the company under a new contract.
Strickland signed his new deal around AEW All In last year, with it being noted that he had “outperformed” the contract which had not, at the time of writing, expired.
With his WWE release in November 2022, Strickland returned to the independent scene before signing with AEW, and recently discussed not being ‘well-known’ ahead of joining Tony Khan’s company.
Speaking Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland addressed the “who’s this?” attitude that surrounded his original AEW signing, saying:
“Which worked in my favor, because they didn’t have anything to compare me to. A lot of people were like, ‘Who’s that?’ ‘Who’s this?’ On the day that I did the contract signing at Revolution, I was just like, I can take this as a disrespectful way and be bitter about it and feel petty, or I could use this in my favor and be like, okay, they know me, this is a fresh start.
“Once again, that rock bottom feel, there’s nowhere else to go but up. I’m not having to compare myself or work towards what I did in the past; I felt like that was so tough for a Bryan Danielson, because he was coming from being Daniel Bryan. He’s a Hall of Famer, just that in itself, is a Hall of Famer. So Bryan coming into (AEW), and for people that only know him as being Daniel Bryan, to doing what he did as Bryan Danielson in AEW, that’s a whole other Hall of Fame career. Just like 2 to 3 years of him doing what he’s done here in AEW, so I feel like he had huge shoes to fill.
“Moxley the same way. Moxley reinvented himself three, four times here in AEW. Those guys had it harder than I did, I feel like, because they had this huge reputation. They had the big names when they came in. They’re coming in and already had super successful careers in WWE to like, Oh, I hope he’s better than what we’ve seen there. Or like, Oh, he’s not as good as what we saw over there, they already had the comparison.”
Strickland would go on to sign a multi-year deal that will keep him in AEW until 2029, with the star reflecting on why he chose to sign that deal and how his relationship with Tony Khan has evolved, explaining:
“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.”
Strickland would also address his time in WWE, revealing that he feels he was “too giving” when it came to his work with Hit Row.
Transcript from chrisvanvliet.com.
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