“WWE has been doing it for 40+ years” Swerve Strickland explains the major difference between WWE and AEW’s ways of storytelling 

WWE has been around for decades whereas AEW has come into the limelight in the last few years.

“WWE has been doing it for 40+ years” Swerve Strickland explains the major difference between WWE and AEW’s ways of storytelling 

Swerve Strickland, WWE and AEW (Via AEW and Wrestling Headlines)

In the five years of its existence, AEW has incredibly risen to the top and has remarkably delivered top-notch sports entertainment. The Jacksonville-based promotion differs from WWE by focusing on the sports-based approach of the business. WWE lies ahead in the entertainment sector and then brings the physicality angle to wrestling. Former WWE and current AEW megastar, Swerve Strickland, commented on the major difference in the two promotions’ way of storytelling that equally entertains the audience.

While speaking on the Smooth Vega Podcast, Swerve stated that AEW is doing what they do at their best. They do not try replicating the way of entertaining products like the other promotions. He mentioned WWE has stuck to its format for more than 40 years and has mastered that aspect of storytelling.

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Strickland stated that they are the best in the ring, and the fact that they lack a melodramatic factor does not make them less. It’s just that AEW focuses on a different aspect of storytelling and presents it with their in-ring time. AEW does not halt the show for one to speak for 30 minutes and lacks storytelling. They provided the audience with an alternative for storytelling and cited the example of Continental Classic.

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AEW does what AEW does at its best. We shouldn't be trying to give the storyline in a format the way that another product like WWE has been doing it for 40+ years. They have it, they mastered it.
Swerve Strickland about on AEW’s storytelling approach

The former NXT North American Champion is renowned in the world of wrestling for his sheer in-ring skills. Fans feel fortunate for him to have been released from WWE back in 2022 so that he could land in AEW.

In WWE, he was known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, who was part of the Hit Row stable. His initial time in AEW aligned him with Keith Lee (Swerve in our Glory) and a year later he went on to lead the Mogul Embassy.

Swerve Strickland ‘did not even answer’ the phone call from WWE asking to return

The Realest Swerve Strickland is one of the stars who has highly benefited from jumping from WWE to AEW. His release in 2021 took away the entirety of Hit Row, while Swerve only managed to shift gears then. And two years later, Strickland is an AEW megastar, while his friends are still struggling in their careers.

Swerve Strickland
Swerve Strickland (Via Wrestling Inc.)

Swerve thinks that surviving in WWE is tough as creative control is out of their hands. One’s bookings are left in the hands of those who make them fit in needless situations. Strickland needed to be in a place where he could be at his best, and that was AEW. In early 2022, he made his debut in AEW and NJPW.

"For me, I was in a place where I knew I needed to be. I needed to be in AEW. When I got the phone call to go back, I didn’t even answer it. It was, ‘Nope."
Swerve Strickland ignoring WWE’s ‘call’ to return

The former AEW World Tag Team Champion stated that he did not even answer WWE’s phone call they needed him and called him to make a return. Swerve had no plans of going back to the place where he did not feel like himself.

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