Swerve Strickland Recalls Wanting To Be A Triple H Guy

AEW

Swerve Strickland (fka Isaiah Scott) has recalled his relationship with Triple H, noting that he told The Game he wanted to be one of his ‘go-to guys’.

Swerve Strickland signed with WWE in 2019, making his NXT TV debut as part of that year’s Breakout Tournament. Most of Swerve’s success on the developmental brand came in the months before his main roster call up, forming Hit Row in May 2021, and winning the North American Title that June.

Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Swerve noted that Triple H always felt like a boss to him, despite him trying to get close with the King of Kings.

Recalling his conversations with Triple H, Swerve said:

“Triple H felt like a boss to me. That’s no slight to him. He was the boss, and I treated him like a boss. He treated me like an employee. He enjoyed my work and what I contributed to the show and my talents and stuff, but I didn’t have the warm and fuzzy conversations like a (Tommaso) Ciampa would have with him or like a (Adam) Cole would have with him or like Finn (Balor). Finn could show him his workout equipment at home and they could laugh and stuff.

“I wasn’t doing that with Triple H. For me, I would cut him off and be like ‘I wanna be one of your go-to guys.’ I said that day one. He’s like ‘Okay, yeah for sure I see you as one of those guys’. He put me in like a big marquee match. Worlds Collide. It was a four way in Houston. I killed it. I’m like ‘I wanna be one of your guys.’ I looked him in the eye and said that to him. He’s like ‘You are one of my guys, what are you talking about?’. I was like ‘I know when you’re committed to somebody and when you’re like hesitant. Why are you hesitant with me?’. I always asked him that, straight up.

“I was like ‘Don’t hesitate with me, becuase I’m gonna make you look stupid at the end when you hesitate and everyone’s like where’s this guy been the whole time?’. That’s what happened when Hit Row kicked off. The last conversation we had, he was trying to duck off and get in his car to get to his private jet and I had got hurt the week before with a hamstring thing, I was out for like four weeks. So I’m like ‘Okay, I’m hurt these four weeks. I’m gonna come back (after) and do something different.’

“I wasn’t asking permission, I was telling him. ‘I’m doing something different. I want [lean] towards being more heel-ish and being aggressive and this is what I’m doing.’ That’s why I came back, the hair was changed, the hair color was changed.”

Hit Row was moved to SmackDown as part of the October 2021 WWE Draft. All four members of the group bad been released from their contracts by the end of November.

Swerve is currently signed to AEW, most recently wrestling during Wednesday’s Dark: Elevation taping.

Stay up to date with AEW TV win/loss records for 2022 using our tracker at this link.

Transcription via Fightful.

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