AEW star Swerve Strickland has looked back on a day when he was being “bullsh*tted around” at the WWE Performance Center despite having a great match just a few days before.
On top of competing on NXT TV, the former Isaiah “Swerve” Scott also competed regularly on 205 Live, which was filmed after SmackDown on Fridays. In July 2019, Strickland had a match on the show against Drew Gulak, which was very well received backstage afterward. However, despite proving himself in the ring, things were different at the next training session.
Appearing on VladTV, Strickland first spoke about the match in question and the praise he received from main roster stars afterwards:
“The one day I knew I was getting bullsh*tted around the PC was when I was there for three or four months, and I got called to do 205 Live against Drew Gulak, who had the Cruiserweight Championship. 205 Live is a show that takes place after SmackDown. So after SmackDown, you see the Roman Reigns, you see all those big names. They close off SmackDown, then they do another show for the extra content on the WWE Network at the time.
It was three matches, and we were the last one. It was me and Drew Gulak, we went 18 minutes in the ring, straight, for the Cruiserweight Championship. Everybody’s on their feet, going crazy. I have Swerve’s House signs, going after Roman, I have Swerve’s House signs. They’re not chanting, ‘This is awesome.’ They’re chanting, ‘Let’s go Swerve.’ They’re actually rooting for me to win this title. I end up losing to Drew Gulak.
Got great praise in the back afterwards. Charlotte [Flair], Bayley, Kofi [Kingston], Samoa Joe, everybody’s giving me crazy praise.”
Continuing, Strickland noted that when he got back to the WWE Performance Center for his next session they were being taught the basics, despite the fact he had recently put on a great match in front of thousands of fans:
“I come back to the PC, and they’re trying to teach you arm drags again. I’m like, get the f*ck out of here with that [laughs]. They’re trying to tell me how to entertain 400 people in NXT when I just entertained 6,000 in a stadium. I’m like, why are you trying to backtrack me? I already showcased what I can do in front of 6,000. Mind you, that’s the end game to all this.
The end game is to get me there, of what this product is. That’s like, you don’t bring the guy from the G League, he drops 30 in the NBA, and come back to practice back at the G League, and it’s like, ‘Let’s put him on the bench. He needs more development.’ I’m like, I just dropped 30 on Giannis. What are we doing?
So that was the mindset I had. It was kind of too brash, it was too over-thinking, and there’s where I kind of clashed with Triple H, as far as we didn’t gel. I really gelled with Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels was the one, because he didn’t have the full power, he was just an advocate, and he as a partner to Triple H because he was more hands on with the talent.
Out of all the coaches and all the people and the staff there, Triple H still had to go to the main roster and SmackDown and Raw and do a lot of these public appearances. He still had to do the shareholder meetings and all that, so he couldn’t be there every day, but he was there pretty often. Shawn is the only one out of all those coaches that could really teach you how to be a top main event star. That’s the only one there. So I’m like, that’s who I need to get with. Why can’t I get with him?”
Concluding, Swerve Strickland also recalled an instance where he wanted to be put into Shawn Michaels’ class but was told The Heartbreak Kid was not doing classes at that point. Taking matters into his own hands, Strickland explained how he made it happen:
“I was like, ‘I want to get in Shawn Michaels’ class.’ ‘Well, Shawn, he’s not really doing classes right now. He’s not really holding classes because he’s so busy with the show.’ I was like, ‘Well, can I get a meeting with him.’ He was like, ‘I mean, his office is right over there.’ Bet. Went over there, found Shawn. I was like, ‘Hey Shawn, do you mind if I do tape studies with you?’ He’s like, ‘Absolutely.’ I’m like, it’s that fucking easy? I’ve been here a year and a half, and I could have just walked up to his office?
But that’s those things, they don’t give you those curriculums. That’s not part of it. That’s the game. They want that run-around until you earn the ‘sweat equity’ to be able to go over there, to be like, oh, now you’re worthy of talking to Shawn because you put in all this stuff,”
AEW Star Swerve Strickland Talks WWE Release
Released from WWE during the pandemic, Strickland made his AEW debut at Revolution 2022 and has not looked back since with a World Championship reign and multiple PPV main events to his credit. During the same interview, Swerve Strickland spoke about his WWE release and how a member of the Hit Row faction “upset someone in the back.”
H/t to Fightful.