AEW Star Feels He Was ‘Too Giving’ During WWE Run

WWE/AEW

An AEW star has revealed the issues that he had with their time in WWE, noting they felt they were “too giving”.

Known in AEW as Swerve Strickland, the former World Champion had a run in WWE between 2019 and 2021 as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott.

A former NXT North American Champion, Strickland has recently opened up about the issues he encountered during his time in WWE.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland compared his WWE run to how he has been presented in AEW, saying:

“I would explain it to somebody like this. It’s like, you can have a talented quarterback drafted number one, if he’s not in an organization that allows him to be a franchise quarterback, he’s not going to play like a franchise quarterback.

“Your quarterback and your talent on a team is only as good as your organization allows you to be. If they don’t allow you to be as great as you possibly could be, then you’re not.

“Imagine a lot of these great quarterbacks that came through in franchises, if they had Bill Belichick (they’d be even better).”

Being a franchise quarterback would be something that Strickland would reflect upon when he looked back at his time in NXT, revealing that he felt he was “too giving”, as he explained:

“It takes losing the job to really believe it. I also felt like I was too giving, especially when they handed me Hit Row.

“I felt like Triple H wanted me to be LeBron in the (Miami) Heat, scoring, not passing the ball. That’s why I don’t think we did as well. I think I should have gotten the ball and been the LeBron with the team. Like when he lost it in the finals with the Mavericks, I felt like I should have been like, No, give me the ball. I felt like that was one of those moments.

“I didn’t take that initiative enough, strongly enough, and have been the franchise guy.”

Since being released in November 2019, Strickland has gone on to success in AEW and would also reveal how John Cena’s mindset helped him navigate a stronger relationship with Tony Khan.

That relationship has clearly paid dividends, with Strickland signing his current multi-year deal with AEW last year.

Transcript from chrisvanvliet.com.