Swerve Strickland Didn't Even Answer The Phone When WWE Called To Re-Sign Him

2024 is set to be a big year for Swerve Strickland, with the Mogul Embassy leader looking to cement himself in the All Elite Wrestling main event scene after his performances in the second half of 2023 turned him into one of the company’s hottest stars.

Prior to this, Strickland was contacted by WWE allegedly in an effort to unsettle the former NXT star and coax him back to the company as part of ‘tapping up’ allegations made against WWE by AEW. During a conversation on the Smooth Vega podcast, Swerve revealed his reaction to WWE’s approaches:

"That comes from experience. I had a different experience than those guys had,” said Strickland when talking about former stable Hit Row’s ill-fated return to WWE in 2022. “I've known how to build myself from the ground up on the independents. I knew how to hustle, get here, get to there, put on performances and matches, and then go, 'How do I get that?' Then monetise that into this and make this into something.

“Everything, throughout my career, and to this day, I apply; one thing leads to another and to another. That's kind of how you see those little things in my entrance and my music, my wrestling, my look, the sound, all that was weaving together from going from here to here to hustling. That's something those guys still need to learn. It's tough in that organisation, WWE, it's really tough creatively when you don't have your hands on your creative, and it's left to the powers that be to manoeuvre you how they see fit, and that's not easy for anybody. 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.’"

Strickland is one of several names under contract to AEW to have been reportedly approached by WWE about a return in 2022, although when they made the approach has not been confirmed.

H/T: Fightful