Swerve Strickland shares his thoughts on the larger-than-life characters in wrestling, as he points to the way Rey Mysterio showed a superhero being brought to life.
AEW star Swerve Strickland has become a breakout star over the last several months. One key part of this success has been the way he has come into his own with his charismatic persona. The wrestling world is full of big stars, and Strickland was inspired by a few noteworthy names.
Speaking on Wrestling With Freddie, Swerve Strickland commented on how wrestling features “superheroes coming to life.” He highlighted Rey Mysterio as one example. (H/t Matthew Wilkinson of Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
“Then [Rey] Mysterio took it to the next level, that showed that you could be a World Champion with a superhero brought to life type of archetype in pro wrestling,” Swerve Strickland said. “For a while, we didn’t see the next jump and evolution of where’s the next platform until I seen Bray Wyatt get a lot of that freedom with The Fiend. Then it was like, okay we are tapping into something new and going into a different way.”
Swerve Strickland On Finding His Gimmick
Swerve Strickland then noted that a promo segment with Tony Nese helped him create his gimmick. He stated that he did not want to be cast as a rapper. Instead, he has leaned into being a “mogul” and tying in the business side of hip-hop.
“We had the back-and-forth promo and Tony called me, ‘Some rapper,’ and I didn’t even have anything in my head as far as what I was going to say, I was literally just flowing,” Swerve Strickland said. “I was like, ‘Hey, be careful how you use the word rapper because I’m a mogul.’ I was like, that’s what it is, and I kind of ran with that. I was like, how do I get more of the mogul and more business side of hip hop?”
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