'There still has to be a danger about me', says AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland

AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland has shared some insight on his character work following his world title win at Dynasty 2024. The 33-year-old star is currently in the midst of a feud with Christian Cage.

The Instant Classic was hand-picked by The Young Bucks to be Strickland's opponent for the upcoming pay-per-view, AEW Double or Nothing 2024. On the heels of The Patriarchy's assault last week, Swerve experienced an unexpected betrayal when his stable-mates in The Mogul Embassy turned on and brutally attacked The New Flavor on Dynamite this week, seemingly ending their association with the latter.

Speaking on the Wrestling with Freddie podcast, Strickland discussed the shifts that his character has been undergoing since his world championship victory against Samoa Joe. He likened his past actions as a heel to a predator eager to climb to the top of the food chain, and revealed that he was now painting with a blank canvas.

"I honestly say I'm painting with another blank canvas again," said Strickland. "And so, right now, I'm just gathering my tools. I'm gathering my instruments to start painting this iteration of Swerve. We've seen Swerve as that hungry, predatorial-like figure of like I'm hunting prey to try to get to where I need to go, and I'm taking out every other predator in the animal kingdom to try to get there. Now it's like, 'Okay, you're at the top of the mountain. How do we see him now?'"

The former AEW World Tag Team Champion reflected on retaining core elements of his character despite his recent babyface orientation, stating:

"It's like, okay, now [with] everything we built, we got to kind of scrap that a little bit, but we kind of want to keep those core things that made me who I am. There still has to be a danger about me. And when I'm faced with danger, when I'm faced with threat, I come back ten times harder, because that's what got me to where I am." [H/T - Wrestling Inc.]

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Brian Cage opened up after betraying AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland

Swerve Strickland confronted Christian Cage on the May 8, 2024, edition of AEW Dynamite. Unlike last week's episode, the world champion brought re-inforcements in the form of The Mogul Embassy. However, Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona stunned fans by attacking Swerve.

After Dynamite, Strickland shared a tweet seemingly referring to the former ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions as fake friends. Brian Cage took exception to the accusation, and took to X/Twitter to respond:

"Fake? Who took the wrong cage to Wembley"

Check out the tweet below:

The Machine was alluding to Swerve teaming with Christian Cage in an unsuccessful effort against Darby Allin and Sting at AEW All In 2023. It remains to be seen whether The Patriarch dethrones Strickland at Las Vegas later this month.

Thoughts on Swerve Strickland's face turn? Sound off!