After his release from WWE in November of 2021, Swerve Strickland found himself landing in All Elite Wrestling where he first appeared at AEW Revolution in March of this year. Swerve has found immediate success with his “Swerve In Our Glory” partner, Keith Lee, after the pair captured the AEW World Tag Team Championships at AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 1.
Strickland has been very transparent about his displeasure with his run in WWE. In a recent interview with Renee Paquette, Swerve touched on this and talked about the effort he has made to turn himself into a bigger deal in AEW.
“I took a trip to LA [because] I couldn’t go in as just me the wrestler, I gotta come in with a whole bunch of assets that I can attribute to any product that I’m gonna go to. So I just went to LA for two weeks and I met some people in entertainment, met some producers, literally I built a team over there that supported me and my podcast and my music and these other things. When I got signed, it was like ‘Oh, by the way I don’t wanna get a music entrance song just applied to me, I have music already and this guy that did it, he won two Grammys.’ He’s like ‘Oh okay, let’s use that. Okay, cool.’ So now that set me apart, then it was like well I’m doing this and I’m making appearances, I’m going to the Grammys, I’m going to this and that. Then I’m like ‘Oh by the way I have Kevin Gates, we can bring him in’. So like right away, I’m just… my first three months in AEW made me completely forget about my last three years in WWE. I put all of that focus and energy and that resentment into building something. Now [I’ve been here] seven months and I truly believe without a shadow of a doubt that I’m the best acquisition of 2022 in any company. I’ve been consistent, you don’t just see me in a wrestling ring. You see me every which way, if there’s a camera I’m going to be in it. If there’s an interview, I’m gonna be in front of it. If there’s a song, I’m gonna be rapping on it. If there’s a artist, I’m gonna be here. I want to be everywhere. These appointments turn into bigger successes later on for me.”
Swerve Strickland
Swerve and his partner, Keith Lee, will be looking to defend their AEW World Tag Team Championships against The Acclaimed at this week’s AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription
