Following his win on the latest episode of Dynamite, AEW star Swerve Strickland reacted to the time WWE fired him.
The 32-year-old has competed in multiple promotions prior to his run in both WWE and AEW. He officially signed with the Stamford-based promotion in 2019. He competed in 205 Live, NXT and also wrestled on Friday Night SmackDown.
Strickland went by the name Isaiah "Swerve" Scott. He had multiple matches with Santos Escobar to try and capture the Cruiserweight Championship, but he had unfortunately failed every attempt to capture the title.
Down the road, he did manage to capture gold in the form of the NXT North American Title. He also formed his own faction Hit Row along with Top Dolla, Ashante "Thee" Adonis, and B Fab. During the 2021 draft, the entire group was drafted to the blue brand.
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Unfortunately, the faction only had one match on SmackDown as the stable fell victim to the budget cuts and was released from the company in November 2021. Shortly after being let go by WWE, Swerve Strickland signed with AEW.
Last night on Dynamite, he competed in the main event match against debuting star Nick Wayne. After a hard-fought battle, the former NXT North American Champion managed to pick up the win.
Following the match, a fan took to Twitter wondering if people still remember the fact that WWE had fired Strickland. The AEW star reacted with a GIF claiming that he certainly does remember.
WWE veteran Bully Ray comments on Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne on AEW Dynamite
As mentioned earlier, the AEW star defeated 18-year-old Nick Wayne. Following the match, WWE veteran Bully Ray commented on it.
On the latest episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast, Bully Ray mentioned that it was a good decision for the debutant to lose.
"But the part of the match that I loved the most was the finish, not the actual finishing maneuver but the finish of the one, two, three. Nick Wayne lost his first match, there's a line from an Aerosmith song, the name of the song is 'Dream on' that says, "you gotta learn how to lose before you learn how to win," and the same applies for pro wrestling. Lose, lose, lose, and lose again until it's the right time for that first victory, earn that first victory," Bully Ray said.
Following the match, Tony Khan announced via Twitter that Nick Wayne was officially an All Elite.
Do you think the Stamford-based promotion made a mistake by releasing Swerve Strickland? Let us know in the comments section below.