Isaiah 'Swerve' Scott and Hit Row (B-Fab, Top Dolla/AJ Francis, Ashante 'Thee' Adonis) seemed to be on the fast track in WWE as they took NXT by storm and were quickly called up to WWE SmackDown.
Almost immediately, the group was cut by one fourth as B-Fab was released on November 4, a month after the group was drafted to WWE SmackDown.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Swerve (Shane Strickland) open up about his WWE release.
"After B-Fab got let go, nothing surprised me," he said. "At that point, it was like I wasn't really motivated as much either. I was going to do the work and apply myself, but the motivation to truly create anymore wasn't there because you took a a huge part of our creation right off the bat without telling us, without informing us, there was no discussion. There was no rhyme or reason why we weren't given one. I feel the excuse that was given was a bold faced lie. If I look back on the conversation we had when they brought us together, after the firing happened. To this day, we can't describe it and put it on any one or two things, it's one of those mysteries we're always going to have in WWE, call it a mystery, of decisions they've made, for many years."
The rest of Hit Row was released on November 18.
Hit Row was featured extensively on NXT TV with Swerve winning the NXT North American Championship and the group getting to perform a championshp cypher at NXT Great American Bash.
Swerve said that plans seemed to go beyond television as the group was brought to WWE HQ to hammer out future plans and opportunities.
"They literally bought us into their offices and talked about bringing us to the new building that was being built. Bringing us back. Had us spent all our time doing interviews with people getting to know us so they could put us in categories of 'this person is into this so we can have them do this interview and represent WWE and this brand,' trying to get us branded. They spent all that time with us. Even if there was issue, there was no issue brought up for us to critique or fix or modify. 'Okay, we'll change that to fit this more.' There was no discussion at all. For me, it was, 'okay cool, it's one of the worst mistakes you're ever going to make.' I'm going to show that," he said.
Swerve continued by saying, "It's not even a matter of showing them or prove them right. It's just, 'Wow, that was stupid. That was really dumb to let him go when I'm about to do.' For what I'm about to do, it's really dumb to let that go, regardless or without of any reason, discussion, or reprimand. 'Oh, it's that easy and simple? Got you.' That's the kind of shit that fires me up and sparks me. There is nobody in the industry across any brand or company that can do what I do. That's what has helped me navigate for so long. I always find a way to level up."
Swerve ran down his list of accomplishments after people doubted him or thought he had reached his peak, noting his championships in Lucha Underground, MLW, DEFY, and EVOLVE before joining WWE.
Swerve is set to wrestle at upcoming DEFY, TERMINUS, and PROGRESS events.
He was also part of NJPW RIVALS on Thursday. You can learn more by clicking here.
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