“I Didn’t Even Answer It”

Swerve Strickland is rising to the top of the AEW card, and doesn’t plan on relinquishing that spot, even to return to WWE.

The Mogul Embassy leader spoke on this topic during a recent appearance on the Smooth Vega podcast, where he commented on Hit Row’s return to WWE in 2022 and how the feeling just wasn’t the same without him. He adds that WWE did call him to return after he was suddenly released, but that he didn’t even answer the phone.

That comes from experience. I had a different experience than those guys had. 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 monetize 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 organization, 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 maneuver 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.

Swerve will be battling Adam Page on tomorrow’s edition of AEW Dynamite. The winner of that match will challenge Samoa Joe for the AEW world championship at the March 3rd Revolution pay-per-view.

(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)