SDCC 2024: AEW's Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm & Darby Allin Talk DC Comics Covers, Rick Ross and More

ComicBook caught up with the stars of AEW at San Diego Comic-Con.

By Haley Miller - July 27, 2024 07:44 pm EDT

During San Diego Comic-Con weekend, several stars from All Elite Wrestling were on hand to take part in wrestling matches in partnership with Adult Swim, a panel, meet and greets and autographs. ComicBook was able to catch up with AEW Champions Swerve Strickland and "Timeless" Toni Storm as well as Darby Allin who is gearing up for two title challenges in the upcoming weeks. The trio discussed their grueling Blood & Guts match this past Wednesday in Nashville, who wins the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar feud, their DC Comics covers and more.

Read on for our full chat with the trio who appear every Wednesday night on AEW Dynamite. They have a huge few weeks ahead of them with AEW All In London where Strickland and Storm face their toughest battles yet in Storm's former protege Mariah May and Bryan Danielson while Allin will challenge fellow AEW pillar Jack Perry for the TNT Championship.

JOE SCHMIDT, COMICBOOK: First thing I have to ask is, I'm going to ask both of you this, but I'll start with you. Darby, what the hell are you doing here after the insane night that you had? I mean, the two shows that you had.

DARBY ALLIN: I don't know. I'm just so driven to push AEW and advertise it that I'll do anything. I don't care how beat up I am. I just came back from a broken foot and a broken face so that's nothing. Last night was nothing compared to getting hit by a bus.

Swerve's Fighting Spirit as AEW World Champion

And Swerve, a similar question. You have been targeted by one Hangman after your epic rivalry that will not end, and I hope it never ends. But also, now you've got this insane challenge at All In with the best technical wrestler in the world, some say the best wrestler in the world. How do you balance those two feuds? You got people coming from all sides.

SWERVE STRICKLAND: That's pretty much the mark of being a world champion. It's like, when you wear the title, everybody's on your back. People of old, people who are new, there's always new challenges, but there's always people that had personal vendettas, always trying to come at you again. And when you have a championship, you have a prize, that drives people a little more crazy. Especially the fact that me and Hangman are so personal and the fact we kind of switched phases in our career over the last year or two. And he's justified in a lot of ways, but that's just the way society works and him coping with that's going to make it harder, that's for sure. But for me it's like another Wednesday and it's going to have to just be like that for a while, all up until Wembley where you really feel the big show and the big pressure of it.

Awesome man. Toni, how are you?

TONI STORM: Well, I'm fine. I've been going through a lot lately, but I'm here because the public demanded it and I'm the champion and I will deliver. So here I am, in bright and sunny San Diego.

Receiving Their Exclusive DC Comics Covers at San Diego Comic-Con

Let's get these cool comics out of the way. These were just revealed to y'all. Let's start with you. What's it like to see you and your glamorous portrayal in a DC comic cover?

STORM: I think it's very nice to see myself look so attractive in cartoon form and I'll have this framed for my mansion.

STRICKLAND: I love how it's very close to our real lives and our real stories. There's a lot of similarities and differences and stuff, and to me it's really just cool to see it in a way, especially from DC. I'm a DC fan, so that's a huge honor in my book.

ALLIN: Yeah, it's badass with AEW collaborating with these things. I don't know. We get a lot of things, freedom outside of AEW, what we can do with our personal lives, but it's cool when you can see this shit happen. I really like it. And like Swerve was saying, the stories are actually personal, so it's cool.

These @AEW stars got to see them first, but YOU can get these #SDCC2024 EXCLUSIVE AEW X @DCOfficial Comics SIGNED from 5-6 pst at the DC Booth! pic.twitter.com/1hFkPBwgH2
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) July 25, 2024

Will Darby Ever Collaborate With Comedian/Actor Tim Robinson Again?

Now that reminds me of personal freedom, because I love Concrete Monster. I want to see you do more with Tim Robinson, because that skit that you did for that skateboarding video was one of the funniest things. I know he loves wrestling, do you have any more work with that maybe on I Think You Should Leave?

ALLIN: No, I want to skate with him more. We skate together, but if anything, [we] just make a skate video. Yeah, not really so much wrestling. I actually don't even think he knows anything about wrestling.

Oh, really?

ALLIN: No, he doesn't know. We just know each other from skateboarding.

STRICKLAND: That's the fans you want though.

ALLIN: Dude, that's literally the goal. That's literally the goal. He hangs out there, but really you could ask him a million questions about [it], he'd be like, "What the f--k is this?"

(Photo:
Darby Allin with his signature skateboard on 'AEW Collision'.
- AEW)

Darby's Quest To Climb Mount Everest

Any plans to go back to Mount Everest since it was derailed?

ALLIN: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It's in the comic.

Oh, it is?

ALLIN: In the comic, it says I climb Mount Everest. Yeah, I'm definitely going because a lot of people thought I was faking the foot injury. "Oh, he got scared and got cold feet," and I was like, "Hell no, dude." I legit broke my s--t. I have to do it next year.

Well, good luck. I hope you get to.

Will Rick Ross Return to AEW and Swerve's Thoughts on Drake and Kendrick Lamar

(Photo:
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland; Rick Ross shooting a backstage promo with Swerve on 'AEW Dynamite'.
- AEW)

Swerve, where is the mogul Rick Ross?

STRICKLAND: Man, trying to get him out of Toronto right now, dog. He got in some scuffle up there. Right now, he can be anywhere right now. He's cool. He's just doing his thing. I see him, he still reaches out and checks on certain things on social media, especially when I'm with Bun B or Westside [Gunn], he'll tap in and stuff like that. So he's lingering. He sees what's going on. That's kind of how Rick is, he's like an overwatcher. He comes down.

ALLIN: He's actually on that canoe out there.

STRICKLAND: Yeah. He could literally be on the yacht right now in San Diego, but he's just out, he's over looming. And I like the fact that people don't know. They want it, but they don't know when and how. It's not a predictable thing. And that's what I like about Rick. Rick's a real special button to push and I want to keep it a special button.

And I have to ask you along those lines, Drake or Kendrick? Because I have opinions about that. So, you're a hip-hop guy, I got to find out what you think.

STRICKLAND: I got friends in both camps, for sure.

Okay, got to toe the line.

STRICKLAND: I will say out of all their tracks, I listen to "euphoria" the most. I don't say that much.

The Glamorous Character Development of Toni Storm

(Photo:
"Timeless" Toni Storm making her grand entrance in AEW.
- Ricky Havlik/AEW)

I can't disagree. Toni, so your character has gone through some wild changes through your career in AEW. As everyone knows it's the best work of your career and you've been given a runway. Where do you see evolving in the future, now that you're kind of at the top of the game, what else can you do?

STORM: I mean, it is really hard to evolve when you've already just established yourself as the greatest female performer; the greatest performer of all time. It's really hard to push above this, but I'm sure I'll figure it out, as I often do.

What are you going to do to Mariah May?

STORM: If I told you, I don't think you'd be able to post any of this. The ultimate plan is to seek ultimate revenge, and yeah. She's going to have nothing left pretty soon. No hair, no tits, no skin. She doesn't have a heart, so that's all right. Yeah, I'm going to slap her head off essentially, just to get it started. I could go on, but I don't think you're ready to hear about it. You saw what she's done to my life, so what would you do to someone that broke your heart like that? Swerve, what would you do?

STRICKLAND: I mean, I-

STORM: What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation? Any advice?

STRICKLAND: Any advice? I've broken hearts, but...

STORM: The woman destroyed me.

STRICKLAND: No she didn't, because you're still here.

STORM: What am I supposed to do?

STRICKLAND: Fire with fire, shoe with shoe.

STORM: I mean, I can say all these things. Slap her tits off, rip her hair out, but what do you do when someone f--ks you this bad? Seriously, I'm open to any suggestions.

I don't think I can go to a dark place like that and recover, so I wish you all the best.

STORM: It's dark, man. It's dark.

STRICKLAND: I invade homes.

And you get cheered on for it. How was that, to see the crowd flip like that? I mean, it just basically created this really organic situation between you and Hangman, where the tables have turned.

STRICKLAND: Like I said, society's in a weird place, kind of reflective to what's going on in the real world. We like to cheer the villains. We like to justify people that are action-oriented rather than talking-oriented. And I said what I was going to do and then I exceeded that. So I kind of earned the respect in a way. And now I feel like Hangman's turned around, getting that respect back.

Catch the stars of AEW every Wednesday for AEW Dynamite on TBS as well as Fridays and Saturdays for Collision and Rampage on TNT.