Strickland: “AEW made me completely forget about my last three years in WWE”

Sep 21, 2022 - by James Walsh

During a recent interview with Renee Paquette on The Sessions podcast, AEW tag team champion Swerve Strickland discussed his run in AEW so far and how it’s made him forget about his last three years in WWE. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

“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.

On how he focused his energy and resentment to build something: “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.”

On AEW;s Dynamite Grand Slam show, Swerve Strickland and tag team partner Keith Lee will defend their titles against The Acclaimed in a rematch from their acclaimed title bout at AEW All Out earlier this month.

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