Swerve Strickland is surging towards the top of All Elite Wrestling. The 33-year-old superstar joined AEW just about two years ago to the day, signing his AEW contract at AEW Revolution in March 2022. Upon his arrival, Swerve joined forces with Keith Lee and immediately ascended to the top of the tag team division, winning the AEW World Tag Team Championships and embarking on a fan-favorite run throughout that summer. After their tag team split, Swerve tested out the singles waters, floating in and around the midcard before striking gold in the form of a critically-acclaimed feud against “Hangman” Adam Page. Five months on from that feud kicking off, Swerve has established himself as a bonafide main-eventer.
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Throughout that journey towards the top of the card, Swerve had the guidance of one of professional wrestling’s most valued minds. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Swerve opened up about how Paul Heyman has advised him over the past year.
“Definitely about how I approached the camera,” Swerve said. “As I was getting more opportunities in front of the camera in AEW, I realized there was a lot of maturing that my character and myself as a performer needed to really do and really understand. It hasn’t been a while since I’ve talked to him, but I still could pick up the phone and text him or give him a call or anything like that anytime.”
Heyman’s fingerprints were specifically on the beginning of Swerve’s heel turn in Fall 2022.
“It was really when I did the Billy Gunn torture angle,” Swerve continued. “He said it wasn’t necessarily his style of filming, but it was also a way that he just knew that this does make you look more intimidating and I think that’s an advantage.”
That segment in question featured the first glimpses of Swerve tapping into his sadistic side, something he has continued to bring out throughout his singles run. Evilness aside, Swerve noted that he does this in order to construct a narrative, something he’s been focused on since he departed WWE.
“When I was let go [from WWE] and on my 90 days I filmed this jazz-style video of just me walking around Hollywood, Florida and looking at art and hearing this jazz music. I was in a suit and everything. I was still trying to really find myself and where I was really going to take things and I sent it to [Paul],” Swerve recalled. “And he said, ‘Make sure you have a narrative to what you’re trying to push, and don’t be afraid to use your voice to push the narrative. Some people are afraid to, some people overly say too much, some people don’t say enough.’
“That was one of those things. I didn’t say enough in one of those videos. ‘Make sure you leave the audience with what your narrative is for what you filmed.’ That’s one of the big things I would say I got from Paul. So now every time I get on camera, I make sure there’s a narrative push to something that I’m trying to let the audience know, re-push for the people that have been watching me weekly, or make sure I punch something away with the people that have never seen me before that I watch for the very first time.”
Swerve challenges for the AEW World Championship this Sunday, March 3rd at AEW Revolution.
