Swerve Strickland Was Positioned to Not ‘Overtake Other Talent’

Talking to Vlad TV, he delved into his journey with the WWE and his quest to be noticed by higher-ups in the promotion.

“He had a respect for me, and he knew what I was capable of. But I always felt like he positioned me in a way that wouldn’t overtake other talent,” he said while talking about Paul “Triple H” Levesque , CCO of WWE, “I was drafted third round, fourth round to a team, something like that. And if you put me on the field, I’m going to outshine the first-rounder.”

Strickland expressed disappointment in continually being drafted into such positions, an issue which he says he constantly took up with Triple H.

“Triple H is great, but he has a way of wording things in a way that run you around to where you started in the conversation, and I picked up on that, and now I stopped him from running around it again,” he said.

Strickland mentioned that he had to look Triple H in the eye and ask him as to what was stopping him from drafting him as “one of your guys.” Triple H finally gave in and set him up with Johnny Russo to come up with a few ideas. However, a torn meniscus had other plans for Strickland, leaving him out of commission for four to six weeks.

But his comeback was as explosive as he had anticipated, with his performance impressing WWE’s Vice-President of Global Talent Development, William Regal . Strickland then went on to form the stable Hit Row which in turn paved the way for him to win the NXT North America Championship.

In a heartfelt admission, he credited NXT head Shawn Michaels for rooting for him, especially during the Bronson Reed match. He even revealed that Triple H jokingly called him one of his guys after that match. Strickland added that while Triple H and Shawn Michaels have their preferred talents, these performances gave him the screen time he yearned for.

“They have that. Shawn and Triple H have their talents; they have their guys, and you can see it on the show. ‘That’s a Triple H guy; that’s a Shawn guy.’ That was where I was kind of weaving into being the Shawn guy. It’s like, okay, now I’m getting there,” he said.

“I Really Gelled With Shawn Michaels”

Strickland’s admiration for Michaels was not an accidental one. He opened up about having a special bond with the WWE legend while commending him for being a “hands-on” coach.

“I really gelled with Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels was the one because he didn’t have the full power; he was just an advocate,” he said. “Shawn is the only one out of all those coaches that could really teach you how to be a top main event star. That’s the only one there.”