Swerve Strickland found great success on the independent scene prior to his work in MLW and WWE NXT.
All Elite Wrestling‘s Swerve Strickland was a recent guest on The Mark Hoke Show. When asked about his time on the independent scene, Strickland spoke about traveling to where the action is and making the right connections along the way.
“Oh, man. It was always about networking and not being afraid to get up and move to go somewhere,” Swerve Strickland said. “So, for me, it was a lot of packing up stuff and just moving to where the action was. Not every place had a lot of action.
“There was like bookings you can make, but who’s going to see you? Who’s going to be meaningful to see your work and get you to the next level? So Richmond, I learned to wrestle. I got trained, and I wrestled for ground Ground Zero Wrestling in Richmond for, I’d say, about a year, and I learned all that I could.
“I have had the matches with everybody on the roster at the school and stuff. But I was like, okay, nobody’s really seeing this. So I ended up just grabbing all my stuff and moving back up to Pennsylvania and staying with my mom up there. I had one contact, and that’s all I used to get to the show. That’s where I met Adam Cole in 2010.
Adam Cole was Swerve Strickland’s first big connection on the independent wrestling scene
“I met him and Joe Gacy, and they had a really dope match, and I was like, oh, man, these guys are really good. These are the guys I need to be around. So exchanged information with them. Adam Cole got back to me months later and invited me up to CZW in late 2010. So I once again packed up all my stuff, moved up there, and got close to the action.
“I was in the outside of Philly area, and then that’s where I really started coming to the wrestling school, and I started training with Sami Callihan, Drew Gulak, Rich Swann came back from Japan and on his tours from Dragon Gate working with him. Adam Cole would come through when he wasn’t busy with Ring of Honor.
“And I just got around great talent at the time that’s now like one of the top names in the industry today. And if there’s anything that I could really give advice to people that are on that indy grind, It’s to get around the action. Get close to the action, and stay around it.
“You only get better working with people that are better than you and are actually doing more, and you want to be in the places that they are actually actively at. And don’t be afraid to sacrifice and lose something in order to gain something greater.”
READ MORE: Swerve Strickland: Teaming With Keith Lee Was A Phenomenal Experience
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If you use any of these quotes, please credit The Mark Hoke Show with a link to this article for the transcription.
