Swerve Strickland reflects on advice given to him by Kenny Omega.
Strickland has found a large amount of success in All Elite Wrestling, being presented as one of the companies top stars even before he became the AEW World Champion earlier this year. Prior to his world title reign, Swerve was also a world tag team champion alongside Keith Lee in Swerve In Our Glory.
While speaking to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp at the AEW All In 2025 Ticket On Sale event, Strickland reflected on advice that Kenny Omega gave him following a tag team match on AEW Rampage.
"I remember he gave me huge compliments on a tag match that I had. It was one of the tag matches, it was on Rampage that you would probably never guess or never think that was the match that he gave me the thumbs up for. Ever since then I was like, ‘Oh, wow, okay.’ That's where it showed to me, especially where Kenny is, not just in wrestling but for our company. Every performance is a moment to capture something.You don't take any type of like match, no matter where—on a Rampage, Ring of Honor, Collision, or when we had Dark—every opportunity is an opportunity to wipe something beforehand and start anew and I feel like that's where I learned that lesson with Kenny. He's like, ‘Wow, boom, now I understand this guy.’ It was like, ‘That was the performance you saw? That one?’ He's like, ‘Yep, that was the one.’So that goes to show you, there's things that you see on screen that other people are truly appreciating and looking for that you wouldn't know. So go out there, give it your best no matter who your opponent is, who you're with, no matter what hour you go on on the night. No matter your opponent, where you're tagged, where you fit in. Every opportunity is a true chance to gain something or the biggest respect out of whoever's watching. You never know. For Kenny to come out of his way to tell me that, huge honor, huge respect from him, and for him to have me in such high regard with all the talent that's in here is even better. That's incredible."
In Omega's interview with Fightful recently, Omega put over Strickland as someone who works hard for their goals. You can check out that full interview here.
For the full Fightful interview with Swerve Strickland, you can find it here.
If you wish to purchase tickets for AEW All In 2025, you can find them here.
