Few stars are as synonymous with All Elite Wrestling as Swerve Strickland, and one only needs to hear the raucous chants of “Whose House” on Dynamite to be reminded of just how beloved he continues to be. That’s why it makes perfect sense that Strickland would be at the center of the battle for AEW’s soul and spirit, which has come under attack thanks to power-mad EVPs The Young Bucks. It’s all led to a match at All In later tonight, which will task Strickland and longtime friend Will Ospreay with taking down the Young Bucks and removing their EVP status, though if they lose, they are sacrificing their main event status for an entire year. Those are heavy stakes, but if anyone can handle it, it’s Strickland, and ComicBook had the chance to speak to The Franchise all about the challenge that lays ahead at All In, as well as Ospreay’s little brother status, what he learned from Bray Wyatt, that epic Predator moment, and the story being told in his new Rebook Swerve 3’s.
Fight for the Soul (and the Future)
While we’ll get to all of those things, All In is at the forefront of Strickland’s mind, especially with what is at stake for both Strickland individually and AEW as a company. Taking down the Bucks means the power structure will shift in a major way, and the same goes for Hangman Page, who is attempting to take down Jon Moxley and remove the Death Ryders’ grip on power as well. While the impact on the present is important, the future of AEW may be even more important.
“Yeah, we’re fighting for the spirit of it, and not just the soul and the spirit of AEW, but the future of AEW. We feel like, all three of us probably equally feel like the future of All Elite Wrestling and the state of what pro wrestling is and what it can still continue to grow into being is all in our hands,” Strickland said. “I feel like we feel like we’re the three leaders in our own ways and our own perspectives. We feel like, I wouldn’t say we work the hardest, but we definitely show the best results, more than anybody, and that’s why we feel, we feel responsible.”
“You know, Hangman was the only one out of all three of us that’s been here since day one. I mean, he was part of the incarnation of All Elite Wrestling. He was responsible for that, so he’s linked with the Young Bucks in a lot of ways. In that same sense, the responsibility lies on Hangman’s shoulders in a lot of ways, which is why he’s in the position that he’s in. Me and Osprey came in, we’re late bloomers to All Elite Wrestling, but in a sense, we felt like we’ve always been a part of this company because with the spirit and the ascension and everything, like the grassroots of it, was from our independent wrestling days and our international days, so we feel more attached to it than a lot of other people, you know, that have been here since day one,” Strickland said.
Brothers Before AEW
There were a lot of memes of Strickland’s reaction to Ospreay putting his added stipulation into the mix against the Bucks, as Strickland looked truly taken aback by Ospreay saying if they lost, they wouldn’t challenge for a World Title for a year. The gambit worked, though, as the Bucks agreed to the match, but Strickland broke down why the stakes are even bigger than one might realize when you look at the bigger picture.
“A lot can happen in a year, for one, so much can happen within a year. And also, I would say, this stage in our careers, we can’t afford to lose a year. I mean, like with contracts and all that stuff, a year gone, away from the World Championship or main event scene or any type like that can affect your following year after that, it can affect your following years. It can affect a lot of things, so it’s bigger than just like, oh, you won’t be able to challenge for the World Championship. You can still go after the Continental Classic or the Unified title, or the TNT title. You go after the Tag Titles and stuff. It’s a bigger deal than that. It wipes out the main event scene in a way that me and Ospreay truly worked so hard over the last three years to make ourselves main event stars. You know, it takes that, all that hard work, undoing it for a whole year, and then to have to repair for another year to get right back into that.
“It’s tough, so if you’re looking at contract statuses, it’s like two, three year contract, that’s two years gone, and you have one year left of that. So it’s a bigger deal on a business side that, it takes a big hit for our careers,” Strickland said. “Will put that on the line because he’s, once again it’s that spirit and it’s that overindulgence of the fact that he knows that how good we are, how great we are together, and it takes two great superstars to combat one of the greatest Tag Teams to ever do this.”
One thing Strickland is enjoying immensely is all of the little brother memes and reactions to his dynamic with Ospreay, and it’s one that effortlessly presents itself because it’s truly authentic. When asked if he is enjoying all of those reactions, Strickland said, “I do. It shows, the response from the fan base that they understand the relationship and the dynamic between me and Osprey. Like, we’re more than just friends, like he literally just feels like a little brother, because I met him when he was like 18 years old. And I was just seeing and hearing about this buzz of this kid over in the UK doing a double moonsault already at 19, 18 years old in London,” Strickland said. “It’s like, what? He’s already doing Sasuke specials. He’s already doing all this crazy stuff, and he’s already getting into Progress Wrestling, and he’s already just getting looks from Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA and all this other stuff. So I was, like, always a fan of him since then.”
“I would do tours over in the UK. He’d be in the cars with us and like, Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, and all these guys we would just be on all these UK rides and carpools with, and then I would sleep at his house on his couch with, like, with his parents and all that stuff. It was really cool. It was a really awesome experience over there, so we literally, like, started from the floor of the living room all the way to like Globe Life Field. So it’s really cool.”
“He’s legit always felt like a little brother, even in times I had to scold him a couple times, he would just like, puppy dog eye me. I was like, all right, come and give me a hug and stuff, but we’ve been through the ringer for the last 10 years, and I couldn’t be more proud of everything that he’s accomplished, too,” Strickland said. “And I’ve always told people, like, when this kid comes over to the USA, everything’s going to change, and then when I knew he was about to sign with All Elite Wrestling, I was like, all right, when he comes over to All Elite Wrestling in the locker room, and he’s full time, everything’s going to change. And sure enough, all those things happened.”
Entertaining Destruction
While the two teams will lock up at All In, Strickland got a bit of payback when he absolutely destroyed the Young Bucks’ limousine on Dynamite, and he was having as much fun wrecking their ride as you’d expect. “150%. Anything that clean and luxurious facing destruction is awesome. And me being the responsible one for the destruction made it even better,” Strickland said. “I remember they were like, oh, you might need a license to control this thing. I’m like, no, I’m driving this thing today. No, I’ll pay the fine later, but I’m going to drive this. It has to be me.”
While it’s always fun to destroy things belonging to the Young Bucks, Strickland also saw a chance to create an unforgettable TV moment. “It was awesome. It was fun. I just like truly creating must-watch TV. As much as I love the great in-ring grappling and stuff, I also like creating moments of like, ‘I was there when this happened. I remember like the last Dynamite before All In Swerve smashing the limousine of the Young Bucks with an excavator. I remember where I was when I saw that.’ You know, like these are the next generation of kids that we’re creating memories of wrestling on or like at an early age. So I love creating these big, crazy, chaotic moments that they’re going to remember and carry on to like their adulthood and then show their kids wrestling too,” Strickland said.”
“Because that’s what we grew up on, seeing like crazy antics and stuff like that when I was like 8, 9, 10 years old. We still talk about it to this day, and we revisit that stuff, so I always wanted to be one. Like, I want to have moments like that, you know, the matches are incredible. I love doing it, but I want to make moments like that that people just are going to always remember,” Strickland said.
Predator, Static Shock, and Creating Stories
Strickland has brought a number of characters and concepts to life through his gear, but one of the most unforgettable creations was his Predator gear from Double or Nothing. The entrance featured lasers, fog, and a full Predator-style helmet, but there was also a story being told at every turn, and that’s something Strickland does whenever possible.
“It was like a concept of just like the story of buck hunting, like, who’s the best hunter out there in the cinematic world, which is the Predator. So it just went hand in hand in that kind of sense. I always try to tell a story with my entrances, whatever that minute to 30 seconds to two minutes, there’s a story being told, There’s a narrative being in place, and I just like to connect to something that the pop culture fan base will identify with, but also make it me and find Swerve in that sense as well,” Strickland said. “So it’s a lot of playing around with those kinds of concepts and ideas.”
“Like, Static Shock was something that I was always a big fan of, and the IP is like up in the air. Nobody knows if they want to use it yet or not. So it’s just like, I just love storytelling, and I like to find different, unique ways to tell stories. If it can be in my gear. Like, if you go back to All Out last year, the cage match, my whole gear was the story of my house being burned down by my enemy. If you look at Hangman’s tron, it’s the outside of my house burning, and then if you look at my tron now, it’s the inside tour of the house being burnt down. So there’s like a lot of levels of connections and everything, you know, so there’s a lot of things like that,” Strickland said.
Strickland also took some storytelling tips from one of the best in Bray Wyatt, who always found ways to create and further stories in small ways, yet they always carried big impact. “If you look close enough, you’ll find little nuggets and little cool things, which is a credit to me being a fan of Bray Wyatt. He used to always tell a little story and then leave a nugget somewhere in the fun house somewhere, or like in his gear or match or like, this was synonymous to this. This links to this. If you look at that QR code, it brings you to this message and stuff like that,” Strickland said. “So I was always a fan of those little things, but I could never get that intricately deep in those, so I would always just try to find, like, my interesting way of telling it. A little bit of depth, but enough surface level that everybody can kind of just look at it and have fun with that, and then go on social media and connect the dots in some ways.
The Answer is Swerve 3
Speaking of stories, there are also some to be found in Strickland’s newest foray into the sneaker world with Reebok’s Swerve Answer 3. Strickland revealed how the project came about, but he also revealed how it connects to his individual story and his place in the AEW history books.
“It was an opportunity to, they wanted to collab with an actual athlete,” Strickland said. “If you see what Reebok is about to be doing now with Shaq, and Allen Iverson is trying to really truly rebrand Reebok, and Angel Reese is getting her own Reebok shoe and stuff, so it’s just finding the right person,” Strickland said. “And they felt like the franchise of All Elite Wrestling, they felt like I was the right person for that. And I was like, I took up the opportunity as soon as possible. I was really grateful for the opportunity. Allen Iverson co-signed and really put a lot of support behind it. He still does.”
“Also, the shoe tells a story. It was like the Dynasty Killmonger gear, you know, inspired Killmonger gear that when I became the first Black World Champion and made history with it,” Strickland said. “So it’s now like, fans get to share a piece of that history on their feet. People want to wear these kind of things, but how about we build, we merchandise something that fans can truly share and support a big moment in the company’s history. I remember I was watching the History of the black Quarterback and they were interviewing Doug Williams, who’s the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl in the NFL, and they were asking about legacy and how do you know that you truly made an impact on something? And he’s like, let me ask you this. If they can write the history book of this company, can they leave your name out of it? And I always wanted to make sure, like, okay, I gotta do everything I can to stamp my name in something that’s like, if you write the history of All Elite Wrestling, Swerve cannot be left out of that history. I have to be part of that, so I feel like all that, that moment and that shoe, kind of cements that because you can take that moment anywhere you can go.”
AEW All In is on pay-per-view right now, and you can find Strickland every single week on AEW Dynamite, which airs every Wednesday on TBS.
What do you want to see next for The Franchise in AEW? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
The post Swerve Strickland Isn’t Just Fighting for the Spirit of AEW at All In, but Also It’s Future (Exclusive) appeared first on ComicBook.com.
