Swerve Strickland sees himself becoming the Patrick Mahomes of AEW.
Over the last few months, the rise of Swerve Strickland in AEW has been spectacular. The 33-year-old caught the attention of fans during his intense rivalry with Hangman Page and has recently ascended into the AEW World Championship scene. The star is someone who many feel is a lock to become All Elite Wrestling’s first black world champion down the line.
In a new interview with Fightful, Swerve was open about his experience with the AEW Creative Process and the best thing about having Will Washington part of creative, who he is related to, is that somebody truly knows what he is capable of as a talent:
“Best thing about it, he knows my capabilities, too. So he can put stuff together that he knows I can [do]. He’s like, ‘No, Swerve is capable of this, give him that.’ To go in a room and to be, ‘This is what we have,’ and at this point I have a good enough relationship with Tony Khan that he knows where my abilities lie. But also you want to make sure you reassure him and you want to reassure the other talent that, ‘Yeah, this guy is capable of this. He can do this. He’s willing to do this,’ and I don’t have to go in there and show face all the time to defend that. ‘Cause I need to just focus on my work, my job and my body. So I don’t have to go in there and do that. Will sticks up for me as a talent to reassure that, ‘Yes, he’s comfortable with this and, yes, he can go above and beyond and deliver this. What you’re asking for as a promoter, as a booker, as a boss, he is capable of this and he wants to do this.’ So that helps so much.”
– Swerve Strickland
However, he later talked about how his connections to Washington don’t diminish his responsibility to go out and perform to his highest level. Showing his high aspirations, Strickland says that he wants to be the Patrick Mahomes of AEW, acting as the quarterback alongside teammates like Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada.
“But at the same time, I gotta still go out there and perform. Some people can say like, ‘Oh, they’re getting these opportunities because so-and-so is speaking to so-and-so.’ Everybody in all walks of every type of profession—whether it be professional wrestling, media, sports, whatever—there’s always somebody in the room talking for said talent anywhere you go. In the NBA, there’s somebody talking to the owner about the talent to reassure that this guy is the guy that we need to put on the banner, on the wall, on the side of a bus in the city, on a shaving commercial or anything like that. So don’t try to misconstrue, ‘Oh, this is pro wrestling politics.’ No, this is business politics. But guess what? Dak Prescott can be in whatever mattress commercial, he still has to go out there and throw touchdowns and get the teams to the playoffs. That’s why these guys get these positions. Like I said, I go on anywhere platform anywhere, I’ll say, ‘I want to be the Pat Mahomes of AEW.’ Hence Dynasty is coming up. That’s what I want to be. I want to be the dynasty player. I want to be the guy that’s the quarterback. Throw me in, I’ll throw a touchdown. Now we’re adding an Okada in there, an Ospreay coming in. Like, yeah, these are the teammates I want to have on the field with me. These are guys I want to build a dynasty with. That’s the team. It’s not like me being on the top, being an individual talent. No, I want my team with me. I just want to quarterback that team. Right now Joe’s playing quarterback. But I’m coming up close to, ‘Hey, I’m Willie Beamen, bro.”
-Swerve Strickland
Swerve’s goals may be realised in just a few weeks, when he takes on Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at ‘Dynasty’, the company’s newest pay-per-view coming on April 21. Many viewers will be pulling for Strickland to walk out of St. Louis as the new champion.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Swerve Strickland as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
