Swerve Strickland Came Prepared For The Pressure Of Being AEW World Champion

Swerve Strickland won the AEW World Title at Dynasty last month to end Samoa Joe’s reign and usher in a new era for himself and the company. He admits it’s a lot of pressure to carry AEW on his back, but he was ready for the responsibilities. Speaking on AEW Close Up with Renee Paquette, he said representing change will bring some detractors. 

Strickland compared wearing the coveted AEW World Championship to, “fitting into a perfect shoe that was made for you.” He knows you can’t please everybody and there will always be resistance when changes and history are made. He sees some of the online negativity, but it doesn’t get him down. Instead, he uses it as motivation to keep going and showing the world this is Swerve’s House.

“For me to be at the top of that there’s a lot of pressure to be the first of anything, there’s a lot of pressure. I can already read in the comments and stuff, and I think they’re waiting to see how I respond to that. They wanna see me take that bait, but they don’t understand the professionalism and the mind state that I’m at, at this point. They wanna see the cracks form, they’re waiting for it. Coming off of Dynasty into Dynamite, it’s like, ‘Boom!’ right into the action., and I’m like, ‘Good, it’ll give you no room to speak..”

All Just a Practice Run…

Swerve kept busy in the days leading up to his win at AEW Dynasty and did the media rounds to spread the word about the company he wants to lead. The day before the PPV, he threw out the first pitch before the Saint Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. He had the AEW World Title with him for photo-ops, even though he had yet to win the gold. 

Swerve Strickland has many irons in the fire outside pro wrestling. He recently rocked the Rolling Loud Los Angeles stage with his music, and he also keeps up his Swerve City Podcast. Swerve explained how these personal endeavors prepared him to carry the torch for AEW.

“I feel like the last two or three years was preparation. It’s not like I was presented to do these things. It’s just something that I wanted to do. I’m inspired by Jericho and Fozzy, touring and still making it to TV, doing Talk is Jericho and doing all the shows, and all these guys who have these outlets. I was like, ‘man I wanna do that.'”

“This was all just a practice run, like oil in a machine, and now [points at AEW World Title] I am the machine. The machine is here because I’ve been doing this for a while with my small team, my small crew and I have to lead that. I’ve been leading these small crews in music and everywhere and it’s like now we’re gonna add this responsibility on top of that.”

The AEW World Title commands a great amount of time and attention. The schedule may be grueling, but Strickland has been putting himself to the test for years with his own hustle. Now he is the face of AEW, and more than prepared to take on the role of a lifetime.