Swerve Strickland says he earned the investment.
Throughout 2024, Swerve Strickland cemented his status as one of AEW's top stars. At AEW Dynasty, he beat Samoa Joe to win the AEW World Championship. In doing so, he became the first Black world champion in AEW history. AEW later announced that Strickland had signed a new contract at AEW All In. In October, Strickland announced that he had finalized one of the most lucrative wrestling contracts in the industry with AEW.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo for Instinct Culture after AEW All In Texas: Countdown to On Sale, Swerve Strickland was asked to comment on signing his new contract with AEW.
“For me, it wasn’t about, ‘Will it ever happen?’ It was, it’s going to happen. I have to have the faith that it’s going to happen. Now, I just have to justify why it’s happening with what I do as my work, why does that happen. It took me making history for that kind of contract to happen. It wasn’t just an overnight thing, like money’s just handed to his person. No, this was earned. It goes back to that American story, just hard work, consistency. Not everything was perfect, but I still persevered through that. Then it was just, what does AEW need? What does Tony Khan need for me to deliver for AEW, and truly tapping into those things, and being the guy to go to, and being like, I’ll deliver exactly what you need and more. I think having that mindset to just be like, I have to give my best, but I also have to give a little bit more, in addition to. There always has to be an addition to. In this day and age in wrestling and media, there always has to be something a little bit more that you offer. On media days, I’ll be here, talking, making it look good. If I need to take the belt and put it in a music video, I can do that. Having Tony Khan have the trust in me to do that the right way and make sure everything, T’s and crossed, I’s are dotted so there’s no backfire on the company, making it look bad, all those things to make sure you know what, Swerve is good, we trust him enough to make the company look good and not besmirch the name or make anything look bad. So it was that trust as well, and I think that’s where truly the contract was like, Tony was like, ‘Nope, I’m giving it to him, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the right investment.’ So it’s more than just performing well in the ring. It’s everything, everything that you gotta do, and the person that you are," Strickland said.
Fightful Select previously reported more information about Strickland's new contract.
Click here to see what Strickland had to say about his rise in AEW.
Strickland confronted Bobby Lashley at AEW All In Texas: Countdown to On Sale. More information is available here.
If you use these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to Fightful with an h/t for the transcription.
