Swerve Strickland felt like he was being backtracked at the WWE Performance Center.
Years before his career reached new heights in AEW, Swerve Strickland was a young star in NXT who was trying to make a name for himself. After joining WWE in 2019, Strickland eventually got a big break when he formed Hit Row. Strickland and his stablemates were released in November 2021, and Swerve signed with AEW a few months later.
Swerve Strickland recently had an interview with DJ Vlad, and he discussed his life and career. When discussing his time in WWE, he noted that he felt like WWE was trying to “backtrack” him after he had a match on WWE 205 Live.
“The one day I knew I was getting bullsh—ed around the PC was when I was there for like three or four months and I got called to do 205 Live against Drew Gulak, who had the Cruiserweight Championship,” Strickland said. At the time, 205 Live was being taped after episodes of WWE SmackDown.
“So, we had to go last on that night in Miami after you’ve seen all the stars. And it was me and Drew Gulak. We went 18 minutes in the ring straight for the Cruiserweight Championship. Everybody’s on their feet going crazy. I have ‘Swerve’s House’ signs, like, going after Roman. They’re not chanting, ‘This is awesome!’ They’re chanting, ‘Let’s go Swerve!’ They’re actually rooting for me to win this title and I’m losing to Drew Gulak.
Swerve Strickland Recalls Getting Praised
Strickland went on to say that he got praise from several stars on the main roster, but when he went back to the Performance Center, he was back to learning arm drags.
“ Got great praise in the back coming afterward,” he said. “Everybody’s giving me crazy praise. I come back to the PC and they’re trying to teach you arm drags again. I’m like, get the f–k out of here with that. They’re trying to tell me how to entertain 400 people in NXT when I just entertained 6000 in the stadium. I’m like, why are you trying to backtrack me?” (H/t Ian Carey of F4WOnline.com)
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