Posted in: AEW, Interview, TV | Tagged: AEW All In: London, All AElite Wrestling, interview, Swerve Strickland, wrestling

Interview: Swerve Strickland Chats Career Moves, Wembley, AEW & More

Swerve Strickland took time to chat with us about his wrestling career and what he's up to in AEW, his style, and All In: London 2026

All Elite Wrestling recently opened up tickets for their upcoming Wembley Stadium event, All In: London. Returning to the stadium after two years away, the company is looking to make it one of the biggest professional wrestling events of the year, in front of one of the best crowds, as the UK fanbase is always rabid for a good show. As part of the promotion for the show, we got a chance to chat with the self-proclaimed Most Dangerous Man in AEW, Swerve Strickland. He was gracious enough to spedn time with us talking about his career, his style, and what he's currently doing both in and out of the ring.

BC: AEW All In is going back to London. How's it feel knowing you guys are going back there to perform at Wembley? And how's it usually performing for a UK crowd compared to everybody else?

Swerve: The UK has the most loyal fans because they're hungry fans. We're not over there very often. So the couple of weeks of Dynamite's and Collision's leading all the way to the big pay-per-views like Forbidden Door last year. All In: London, it's a hungry fan base that is so engaged, so connected to their special wrestling, and to a lot of us, the wrestlers on the show as well. So I'm always looking forward to going over there. Since I've been going over there since 2014 on the independents, I became an adopted son as far as the wrestling roster, because I was doing tours with Will Ospreay, Pete Dunn, Toni Storm, Gunther, and Mark Andrews. I was going on tours with these guys over there over ten years ago. And so I've adopted a very strong fan base over in the UK and the European scene. So it always feels like I'm coming back to another, an adopted home that treated me very well over the last ten years.

Speaking of the last time you were over there, you had just a killer match with Bryan Danielson. Is there any kind of expectation on your end to be like, 'I have to top what I did the last time I was there?' Or is it more the idea 'I'm going to do, I'm going to put on the best show I possibly can?'

I always look at it as I want to do something unique and different and new because I could have said the same thing about Wembley in 2023. Like, how do I top wrestling Sting at Wembley Stadium? That's hard to top. And somehow I went into Wembley the following year in a different direction and different version of myself, an evolved version of myself, and a lot of fans took that and made it. They felt like it was bigger and better, main eventing and going in as the AEW World Champion. Making history being the first Black wrestler to main event Wembley Stadium. I didn't make those plans. I tried to evolve myself in a different version and that's what happened. It was organic. It was authentic. And the fans were tapped in with me at the time. That's how I feel about going back to Wembley this year. I'm an evolved version of Swerve from that last time I was in Wembley, so what does this version of Swerve bring to the main event, or just Wembley altogether? But the goal is always the main event.

Absolutely. Speaking of evolving, you have done a tremendous job since appearing in AEW. Keeping yourself fresh, keeping your character constantly in people's minds and in the headlines. How is it for you to see where you were when you first came in and where you previously were, to where you are now?

I would say that the only difference was I had time. I got more time to tell these different stories and evolve. I got the time and investment here in AEW to show those different nuances of Swerve, do these unique, sometimes whacked-out, zany, off-the-wall things. Like home invasions and kidnapping Billy Gunn, going into the wrestling school and attacking Nick Wayne; things like that. I was able to flesh out different parts of the Swerve character in a horror-villain role and persona that I wasn't necessarily able to do to the fullest extent previously. But now people had a different notion of who I am and why I do what I do, what makes the Swerve persona tick in the ring, you know?

As far as I do here in AEW, I was able to show that these are the limits of where he's going to go, and then you push those limits. There's no limits to now where he's willing to go, and that makes that character a lot more exciting. It's almost like nothing is out of the realm of possibility when I'm in the ring or on the TV screen. But once again, I had time, I have time, because nothing I do is very microwave. I'm very calculated as far as when to push these notes and when to tap into these emotions and bring out these different nuances to Swerve and really turn up the volume when it needs to with the right opponent to do it.

On that same subject, you've gone back to being a heel character in recent months, and it's been really interesting to watch kind of the transition. Changing up the music, changing up a little of the presentation, you got Nana back to being a heel manager on the side. How has that been in the recent months, turning up the heat and going in a different direction again?

It was needed, and it was needed with the right person at the right time with Kenny Omega. There's no more of a lightning rod of attention in AEW to get than Kenny Omega. Everybody's always interested in what Kenny is doing when he's on screen, when he's active, and he's very much healthy and at his best. There's no more of a top performer in the industry than Kenny Omega. So going over 25 minutes with him in the main event, taking him out at the end the way that I did, it sparked a lot of noise throughout the industry. It sparked a lot of noise throughout AEW. That also woke up Nana in a lot of ways. In a lot of different ways, I'm able to navigate and move through AEW the way that I want to. The way I'm meant to, I would say.

Your style, not just in wrestling but in the way that you dress when you come out, you do not look like a lot of other people. Speaking as a Utah Jazz fan, I remember watching one night you walking out with that expensive jacket that not even our players wear. You always look like you got some kind of different style when you walk out as opposed to the vast majority of the roster. How is it for you to present yourself in a different way so that you always catch people's eyes when you come out?

When I first got there, it was about being big, big, big, extravagant. It was the white coat with the graffiti on it, the artwork, then glasses, then big fur coats. It was big and grandiose to just grab the attention of the people. Then I started trimming down those things as I went forward a little bit more. So the big jackets became vests. Then it became Peli Peli leather jackets. Now I've graduated, I gained the size, and that graduated to just the simple look. I want that look to be very memorable, and I want you to see it. I want it to be routine. You see the leather snakeskin jacket with the leather pants. It almost felt like Terminator. Schwarzenegger, you know what I mean? It was just about trimming down all those things that I had to start with to find the core of who I am and what Swerve is.

So now that's a look that only Swerve does, that nobody else in the industry really has. It took a lot of fine-tuning to get to that, but that was when I returned to Full Gear this past year. I wanted to give a raw version of Swerve. I don't need the glitz. I don't need the glamour. I don't need all these crazy things. I don't even need wrist tape. You're getting the bare, raw version of me. So it was about stripping things down, I gained all the weight to start cutting it down. Now I'm cutting the fat, I'm at the body that I need to be, if I could use that as a metaphor for the character.

Looking at the way AEW is right now, the past few years between you guys and the competition, it feels like there's been this pendulum swing back and forth over who seems to be hotter right now. And I feel like that pendulum is swinging right back to AEW. So how is that for you guys trying to find that momentum and roll with it to make sure you guys present the best product every week compared to everybody else?

It's being unique to ourselves. It's being organic, being what's authentically AEW, the best professional wrestling on the planet. It's about pushing the youth, getting our main event scene locked in with a lot of guys that are established, new, younger guys like a Brody King and like a Kevin Knight, entering into the main event scene, getting those opportunities. Andrade coming back to the company, a new version of Andrade, a better version of it, probably the best version of Andrade we've seen, inserted into the main event scene. Competing with these top guys like Kenny Omega and myself. It's about these guys mixing it up a little bit more. You're getting Speedball Mike Bailey rubbing shoulders with Kyle Fletcher and Hangman Adam Page in different, unique ways. Bandido facing off against MJF for World Championship. All four of us in the four-way at World's End; myself, Samoa Joe, Hangman, and then MJF. All these guys that haven't necessarily faced off each other all collectively. They have different and separate ways and windows, but now it's just the combination of talent that is mixing up and performing on a weekly basis. Having Tommaso Ciampa come through, Alina Cross coming in, Megan Bayne starting to rise up a little bit, Jamie Hayter and Atlantis Windsor pushing themselves a little more in the tag division, Thekla coming in and winning the Women's Championship.

This is a combination of just fresh new ideas and talent, which makes the viewing weekly fresher as well. Jon Moxley firing on all cylinders. It's a plethora of talent, and then Ospreay returning, Kenny Omega back in the singles going for the World Championship. As I said, he's a lightning rod for the attention for AEW whenever he's on screen doing something big and important. Especially in singles, people tend to pay a lot more attention and focus, and then continue watching weekly. Myself mixing up with Kenny for the very first time in singles, that drew a lot of attention. I feel like all these things are elements of things that are driving the ship forward and getting that pendulum swing in our way. Not to mention the collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Brothers, the HBO Max deal really did a lot of help for us, just the TV rights deals.

Are there any particular opponents that you haven't had a chance to work with that you kind of have your eye on, or people that down the road you're like, 'You know, it'd be really awesome to mix it up with this person.'

On a previous interview, I said Buddy Matthews is one of those guys. Hopefully, he heals up soon and gets back to a refined version of Buddy that we know we all want to see, and we know he's capable of. But also Kyle O'Reilly. Hopefully, he's out there, he's healthy, he's getting back to prime, because he's one of the most consistent performers the wrestling industry has. And he's been like that for so many years, so those are the two guys I would love to see in the ring at some point.

What are your thoughts going into the rest of 2026, and how are things looking for you beyond wrestling?

Outside, I'm just signed with The Agency in Hollywood. So I had several meetings this past weekend while we're down in Los Angeles. Those look really good. I got a lot of emails back, I got some studying to do. Outside of that, music has been really great. "Hit Different" is streaming, doing very well. Did some pop-ups and performances. Going to be hosting something in Vegas. I'm doing a lot more physical appearances on the music side, that's the next evolution, the next jump for my music career. A lot of backed-up music that I'm cataloging. I signed with another distribution company as far as how to promote and do it the proper way, back some eyes to the fullest extent. So that's coming up. Shout out Principal and Mass Appeal. Those guys are doing great work. That's another reason why I got Raekwon on the record for the "Hit Different," shout out Montez.

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