Swerve Strickland has found a new groove in AEW
WWE released Strickland despite making his main roster debut alongside Hit Row shortly before then in 2021. After waiting out his non-compete clause, Swerve joined AEW, where he was paired with Keith Lee as a tag team before splitting off into their separate ways.
While speaking with Sports Illustrated ahead of his TNT Championship number one contender’s match against Bryan Danielson on tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Swerve discussed how the release by WWE impacted him.
Swerve went from being the North American Champion NXT to being called up to the main roster before being released within a span of a few months.
“I thought I was on top of the world–then, twenty-four later, I wasn’t. I had to tell my family that. That wasn’t easy. I needed time so I was not angry at myself or embarrassed, which I was for a 48-hour spell. I had to give myself a couple days to absorb it, feel it, understand it–see all the different corners and dimensions. Then I got to work. I’ve always been able to reflect the negative energy back into positives,” said Strickland.
“After the release, I looked for new windows to open. I flew to Los Angeles and spent 14 days there, and I reconnected with contacts. I had the time to get on the ground and meet people. That’s where I met [artist] Flash Garments, and we got in the studio and we made ‘Big Pressure’. Without the WWE release, I don’t make ‘Big Pressure’. I don’t go to the Grammys. I don’t meet Prophet, an incredible producer. I don’t have this epiphany to create Mogul. That’s when all of that was created.”
