AEW Star Says WWE Made The ‘Biggest Mistake’ Releasing Him

WWE

An AEW star has reflected on his WWE release and eventual move to All Elite Wrestling the following year, proclaiming that his former employer made the biggest mistake in letting him go.

Swerve Strickland, along with his popular Hit Row faction (Top Dolla, B-Fab & Ashonte Thee Adonis) appeared set for a bright future in WWE following a successful run in NXT that saw Swerve become NXT North American Champion.

However, shortly after a call-up to SmackDown in the 2021 WWE Draft, the group would find themselves all released from their respective contracts that November.

While the other Hit Row members would eventually return to WWE a year later under the Triple H regime, Swerve had already moved on, debuting for AEW in March 2022.

Speaking to Uproxx Sport Swerve reflected on his release and how it has motivated him throughout his time in AEW.

Swerve said:

“That left a big chip on my shoulder to prove it was one of the biggest mistakes you could have made.

“And now, winning the tag titles with Keith Lee and doing a co-main event in pay-per-views with said tag titles, doing all these big arenas and being featured in a lot of different, very unique ways and being able to do the music crossover and show them that was one of the biggest mistakes you made, but you can’t have it back now.

“You can’t make up for that now and I’m creating something that’s even bigger than what you expected of me over there.

“I’m really blessed in that department. I want to not just give back to them, but I want to showcase, I want to exceed the expectations of me here at AEW as well.”

Since joining AEW, Swerve has established himself as one of the company’s rising stars, winning the AEW World Tag Team Championship alongside Keith Lee and gaining a particularly bright spotlight now as the leader of the Mogul Embassy faction.

Perhaps the biggest example of the 32-year-old’s rise through the ranks comes at AEW All In on August 27, where Swerve will team with AR Fox to take on the team of Darby Allin and The Icon Sting in a tag-team coffin match.

An AEW star looks set to miss All In just days before being scheduled to compete in a marquee match at the event, click here for details.

For all the other news regarding All In Wembley Stadium check out this link here.

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• Swerve Strickland
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