Swerve Strickland was on Tony Khan’s radar back when AEW first launched.
AEW’s inaugural year was 2019, and the company signed a number of buzzworthy stars in its early stages. Over the years, the company has brought in several former standout talents from WWE. Swerve Strickland is just one example, as the company signed him in early 2022 after WWE released him in November 2021.
Amital Winehouse of The Athletic recently highlighted Swerve Strickland ahead of AEW Revolution. In the article, AEW CEO Tony Khan noted that he wanted to bring Strickland into AEW years ago. However, he had just signed with WWE.
“After his (Swerve Strickland’s) first match against Tony Nese on AEW Rampage, Chris Jericho walked back to me and said, ‘This guy is really amazing. Where did you find him?’ I’ve been watching him for years,” Tony Khan said. “I wanted to bring him into AEW when we first launched, but he had just been signed by WWE. Swerve is a wildcard.
“We saw that Swerve is a breakout star. He won the Tag Team Championship in his first year and went on to have a massive 2023 while being showcased as a singles star. The idea was to showcase Swerve in feature positions with the intent and belief that crowds all over the world would buy into him. I believed he’d become very popular.”
Click here to see what Swerve Strickland had to say about his rise in AEW.
WrestleZone will have coverage of AEW Revolution as it airs on March 3.
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