AEW star breaks silence on WWE frustrations that stalled his career

A top star and former champion in AEW recently discussed his frustrations over being underutilized during his prior stint in WWE. The individual in question, Swerve Strickland, has been signed with the Tony Khan-led company since 2022.

After building a name for himself through his work in independent promotions like CZW, MLW, Lucha Underground, and more, Strickland joined WWE in 2019, debuting on the promotion's developmental brand, NXT. The Tacoma native quickly gathered an impressive fan following through his in-ring work and presentation, especially alongside his fellow Hit Row members. The stable was called up to Smackdown in 2021, but all four stars were released by the sports entertainment juggernaut shortly afterward.

Since then, Swerve has jumped ship to AEW, where he has thrived as a performer and is one of the promotion's top stars. During a recent interview on VladTV, The New Flavor spoke about his time in WWE, and how the Stamford-based company's Performance Center seemingly held him back in spite of him having demonstrated his skills in front of live crowds.

In particular, Strickland discussed how his match against Drew Gulak on 205 Live in July 2019 drew positive responses from fans in the American Airlines Arena in Miami, as well as from his locker-room peers, including Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Kofi Kingston, and Samoa Joe. Despite all this, explained Swerve, he was asked to return to train in fundamentals in the PC, which he felt was counterproductive to his goals.

"So, we had to go last on that night in Miami, after you had seen all the stars. And it was me and Drew Gulak. We went eighteen minutes in that ring straight for the Cruiserweight Championship, everybody's on their feet going crazy, I have 'Swerve's House' signs, like going after Roman... Theyre not chanting, 'This is awesome.' They're chanting 'Let's go Swerve,' they're actually rooting for me to win this title. And I'm losing to Drew Gulak. I got great praise in the back coming afterwards, Charlotte, Bayley, Kofi, Samoa Joe, everybody's giving me crazy praise. I come back to the PC, and they're trying to teach you arm drags again. I'm like, 'Get the f*** out of here with that.'" [0:32 - 1:14]

Strickland continued:

"They're trying to tell me how to entertain 400 people in NXT when I just entertained 6,000 in the stadium. I'm like, 'Why are you trying to backtrack me, 'cause I already showcased what I can do in front of six thousand.' Which is, mind you, that's the endgame to all of this right? The endgame is to get me there, of what this product is." [1:14 - 1:37]

Swerve is poised to regain a former championship of his at AEW's upcoming pay-per-view, Dynasty 2025.

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Swerve Strickland set to challenge Jon Moxley at AEW Dynasty

At Revolution 2025, Swerve Strickland beat Ricochet to become an All Elite World Title contender. He attacked Jon Moxley at the end of the PPV to put him on notice and revealed that he would challenge whoever holds the belt at AEW Dynasty next month.

After Mox's brutal retention against Cope last Wednesday, it appears that The One True King will defend his throne against The Realest.

It remains to be seen if Swerve will unseat Moxley as AEW World Champion at Dynasty.