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Swerve Strickland is laser-focused on the obstacle in front of him this weekend at AEW Dynasty.
All Elite Wrestling‘s Swerve Strickland was a recent guest on AEW Unrestricted. When asked what will be different in his second title shot with Samoa Joe at Dynasty, Swerve pointed out that this time, the match is one-on-one and the additional pressure that comes along with that.
“It’s one-on-one. It’s the actual headlining main event, which brings a lot of pressure within itself,” Swerve Strickland admitted. “We made history last time because I believe I’m the first African American to go for the world title on pay-per-view. So now that’s two pay-per-views in a row. So that’s big in itself. And now, being the headliner for the show, for the pay-per-view on top of the already stacked card with a lot of young talent, a lot of new talent, too.
“And I keep saying on social media, just the fact that, like, everybody’s talking to all the people that we still don’t have on the card that are out for various reasons, whether it be injury, whether it be just stepping away for a little bit. Whether it’s suspensions, we still have this type of roster to put on a great pay-per-view on its own. Especially not a traditional pay-per-view that we usually have. So that, in itself, the situation around the match makes this all different.
The distraction of Hangman Page has been eliminated
“The fact that now, you’ve seen the contact. You’ve seen the brutality between myself and Samoa Joe leading up to the pay-per-view match. That makes it different, too. You know how we interact with each other already. Prior to before the triple threat you didn’t really you didn’t really know how myself and Samoa Joe were going to really interact in a match itself.
“You’ve seen what me and Hangman Page can do. But a lot of those elements are taken out. I don’t have that distraction. I don’t have another blood feud in the way. This is just me and Joe, man to man, a legend in his own right, and probably the most brutal world champion we’ve ever had. So, that in itself is a challenge.
“Just facing Joe standing across the ring from Joe verbally, physically, that’s a challenge. So, all this is just a challenge. And last week, I showed that I was up for the challenge by doing what I did, like interfering like two times throughout the night, just like knowing that I’m not afraid. I know what he’s capable of. But at the same time, I got to put in place that he needs to know what I’m capable of as well.”
Swerve Strickland is willing to take the risk to become AEW World Champion
When asked what it would mean to him to become the first African American AEW World Champion, Swerve said it would mean all the sacrifices he has made for the betterment of his career wouldn’t be for nothing.
“It means a lot,” Swerve Strickland confessed. “In this day and age, in the year 2024. It’s hard to accomplish something new. It’s industry-wide no matter what, box office records are being broken like every month now it feels like across the industry. So it’s just trying to find your place where you belong in the business and try to make a stamp on it, own something; it’s a little bit easier to just follow another path that somebody has already carved.
“It’s a lot more challenging, a lot more risky, and it’s a lot more damaging to try to create your own. There’s a lot of risk involved with that, too. So doing like XXL and stuff, being featured on the freshman cover, that was risky. Going for the Tag Team Championships, that’s a risk in itself. And then branching off away from tag team to go singles and trying to build your own thing.
Swerve understands everything he’s done hasn’t been successful
“There’s peaks and valleys to that kind of thing. Bringing in a Rick Ross and you see what Rick Ross is doing now in our world, that’s a risk in itself. All these things are risks that I was willing to take and I have to put my name on it. Not everything was successful, and I’ll be the first one to admit that. But I’m willing to take the risk because I’m willing to go after and go get it.
“What I learned is people are willing to work with you and do more for you and work with you if they know that you’re willing to go out there and go after it, go get it. And that’s what I learned across all these platforms. That’s what made me who I am. That’s what got me in the position that I am in right now. What it means to me is just like being worth the position I am is all of that.
“All the risks, all the sacrifices, all the pain and heartache, all the doubt like having to take time away from my children to make sure I can move forward to make sure that takes off later on. You miss a lot of birthdays, miss a lot of weddings, miss a lot of funerals.
“I lost my grandmother earlier this year, and I wasn’t able to be there for the funeral. So that was something that sticks in my mind all the time. So, pushing forward it makes me want to pay that back. Like, I didn’t miss that for nothing. I didn’t miss my daughter’s birthdays for nothing.
Shout out to WWE’s Big E
“So that’s just on a personal note on the outside of things like on the industry-wide, man. At the age that I’m at, I’m in my prime years, and a lot of people miss out, or something unfortunate happens, and that time is taken away.
“Like, shout out to Big E. He was in his prime years and a misfortune it was taken away from him. And we didn’t really truly get to see him blossom into the next level. And so guys like that, I want to like push forward for. Regardless of company, that’s a good friend of mine.
“I want to push forward for guys like that and I want to push forward for guys that didn’t get the opportunity to get to the level that I’m at. I want to push forward for the people that were unfortunate enough to have circumstances just taken away from them that were literally on the path to change the business for my culture and for my people and stuff. That’s all the stuff that I think about that’s weighing on my shoulders.”
READ MORE: Tony Khan Explains What Would It Mean For Swerve Strickland To Win The AEW World Title
What do you make of Swerve Strickland’s comments? Do you think he’ll become the first African American AEW World Champion at Dynasty this weekend? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a link to this article for the transcription.
