Swerve Strickland is All Elite but another prominent promotion was knocking on his door.
Back in Nov. 2021, Strickland was surprisingly released by WWE. He along with other members of the group, Hit Row were given their walking papers despite just being called up to the main roster.
While the release was abrupt, many were convinced that Strickland wouldn’t be out of work for long. That hunch was correct as he is now a member of the AEW roster.
NJPW Tried Signing Swerve Strickland
Appearing on Adam Silverstein’s Getting Over Podcast, Swerve Strickland revealed he was first contacted by NJPW (h/t Fightful).
“My first call was New Japan. I was on the phone with Rocky Romero and talked with Will Ospreay about it. That’s a little brother to me, he wants me to be over there as much as them.
“My cousin, Will Washington, who helped produce ‘Who We Are’ AEW album, he talks with Tony Khan frequently and does a lot of media scrums as well. He also does the Grapsody podcast with Righteous Reg and Phil Lindsey, shoutout to them. Tony Khan reached out to him because we’re family and was like, ‘what can we do about getting him here?’
“That was the bug in the ear. I was happy about interest being there really early on. I didn’t want to just show up there. I’m glad I had the 90 days. It gave me time to go out, travel, build a team, network, meet other people.
“I went to LA for 12 days and met so many people in the industry and outside the industry, in the music industry, fashion. I’m building a podcast team, a music team.”
Swerve made his AEW debut at the Revolution PPV. He’ll have his first match with the promotion against Tony Nese on the March 11 episode of Rampage.
