January 4, 2024 • 12 mins
We get unsanctioned with Swerve Strickland. He opens about becoming the first black tag team champion in AEW alongside Keith Lee. Swerve also shares his dream of becoming AEW World Champion, and what that would mean for him and his community.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Ladies and gentlemen, Are you ready? It's about to hit
the fan. Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays, horestling with fready, Ladies
and gentlemen. Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays. No intro today because
I want to give you as much time as we
can with our guest. And this is part two of
(00:27):
the interview with Swerve Strickland. Welcome back to the show.
Happy Thursday to you and to everyone out there. Jeff,
to you as well. I want to get right into it,
and I think this is the most important question that
I had and I saved it all the way for
this because I don't know how much time it's going
to take. You have said this publicly and I want
(00:51):
this to happen for you in every way, shape or form.
I don't know how soon it has to happen, but
it has to happen. You are on the path and
you want to be the first Black champion in AAW,
World champion in AEW and I think the sky is
the limit for you. Jeff and I both think you're
a superstar. How fast do you I mean, it's the
(01:13):
new year, so how fast do you see this year moving?
For you. I mean, do you see this happening quickly?
Are you on a slow burn or you a rocket
ship strapped to you? What do you see in your
future as far as building this legacy toward that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Right now, I don't really put timetable on it because
I feel like everything has accelerated super fast for me
since being in AW Like. I didn't expect to win
the AW tag titles within like six months of me
being there. That was not on my to do list,
you know, but it ended up happening. I think I
(01:49):
had like since signing to AW Like, out of all
the people that signed to AW I think I had
like the second fastest to win a title in the
company's history behind FTR, being the first actually African American
tag team to win the titles as well, and then
going on to have the first African America two tag
(02:10):
teams going for the tag titles out of pay per
view as far as African Americans go. So like, those
are the kind of things you don't like plan out,
you don't like write that.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You can't write that kind of stuff. It just you
let the universe happen.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And then the fact of like going to like November
eighteenth was such a significant date was the Texas Death Match,
but like two years prior that was the day I
gotta let go from the WW. So that's another thing
you can't write. It's just all these things are like aligning,
So I can't like, I'm pretty sure being the first
African American World Champion NAW is going to the stars
(02:46):
are going to align at some point again, and I
can't like force that. I can't plan that. I kind
of just got to stay focused, like what the task
is in front of me right now? You know those things,
those are those things I gotta handle at this very
moment as we speak in But I wouldn't make the
case for being the first African American AW World Champion
(03:07):
if I didn't feel like I didn't have the qualifications
for that. That's like saying I don't think, like, don't
get in the NBA if you don't think you're World
champion material. You know, if you don't think you're a
Super Bowl contender, don't get in the NFL. You want
to perceive yourself as the best. That's why we compete,
that's why we grow, that's why we progress and stuff.
And I feel like I'm one of the most qualified,
(03:29):
not just African Americans. I feel like I'm one of
the most qualified superstars in the company in pro wrestling period,
to be a world champion. And it's something trash, if
something new, it's something people didn't see coming, and it's
something that'll like be the gut punch to a lot
of criticisms that we see online about the company. It's
a lot of like truly new era for the industry period.
(03:54):
You know, I feel like I can. I'm responsible enough
to hold that title. I move in a certain professional
way that nobody else really does or has the caveat
to do. I kind of can bounce between a film
and then a music video and then be on stage
or Rick Ross and Kevin Gates and then go back
to performing at a high level on Wednesday Nights and
(04:17):
Dynamite and then prepare for a pay per view and
then go back to do my podcast and have Freddie
Prince Junior on and stuff like that. You know, like
there's not anybody else in the industry that can that's
really pulling that off besides like Chris Jericho, and hats
off to him for really creating that kind of mold,
that format that structure to be able to do that.
(04:37):
You know, He's opened up the doorways, and I'm like, Okay,
how do I find my identity in that kind of space?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
You know, dude, When I was a kid, You're blowing
my mind. When I was a kid, the only like
Puerto Ricans you would see or Latinos that you would
see on television were either selling drugs or in gangs
and getting arrested. And my grandmother introduced me to Lutli
in professional wrestling so that we could see heroes. Right, Yes,
(05:05):
you know how likable you are? Right, you realize you're
gonna be a role model for kids coming up watching wrestling, going,
holy shit, I can do that too. I relate to
this guy on a level that I haven't related to
anyone in movies and TV things like that, because he's
really talking to me. You see that, right? You know that?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yes, I would hope, so I would hope to be
like a role mode. I'm a father of two girls,
so I think that's that part of me that wants
to be like I wouldn't say wants to be likable,
but it humbles me to a space where I'm still
I still have people to look out for. And I
know there's a younger generation looking up to me, you know,
I want to I don't want to be another story
(05:45):
on social media, like oh what could have been? And
that's like the one of my biggest fears of like
just falling short of getting so close to something, you know.
And I've had family members that I've grew up seeing
that are like superstars.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
In high school, I had the whole world handed to them.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They had college letters sent to their doorway, like right
on the front door, that they had it right there,
and then it's just fumbled because of like decisions, being
in the wrong place the wrong time, making the like
being the city just eating them up and engulfing them
now they never can leave and stuff like that. And
that was never me. I've never done a drug a
day of my life. I never had an alcohol because
(06:23):
those those little small things can just derail you and
take your whole life away that you work so hard for.
So I'm really cautious about the way I move. I'm
really I have a great support system, like the two
mothers of my kids. I got my mother, my sisters,
my daughters. I'm surrounded by women, So I yeah, like
I'm surrounded by a niece, a nephew, you know. But
(06:47):
like so with that being said, I kind of have
to be the guy. I have to be the man
in their lives because a lot of us don't. A
lot of them don't have fathers, you know. So I
got to be the one too for I got to
be the son to my mother, you know. I got
to be the brother to my two sisters. I got
to be the father to my two girls and the
uncle to my niece. That's like, that's a lot of responsibility,
(07:07):
and I don't want to I don't want to let
that down.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll finish off with this. You have such an open
mind as far as where your career is gonna take you.
You said earlier that your podcast partner kind of brought
the artist out in you, but you are that. You
are an artist. You are a storyteller. I'd love to
for you to talk about not just in the wrestling ring,
(07:37):
but the things that you have going on outside, especially
with your music, as far as self expression and the
ability to do that, and the and the way you've
sort of blended these two worlds together and brought this
authentic character to television in a way that a lot
of people just can't do.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I started seeing a lot of the similarities that all
my loves and all the things that I like, I'm
a big fan of, you know, the comic book world.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
We've seen that.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I feel like when it first started, when wrestling really
picked up on like a national television syndicated form, well
it was a lot of comic books coming to life,
superheroes coming to life, you know, with like the Hurricane,
and before that you were really seeing like Fisherman characters
that mid mid to late nineties and stuff. They were
like like, though, these are superheroes brought to life.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah helms right, Yeah, shout out Shane elms Man. I
love them, man, great dude.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
But that was like one of the times you're like, oh,
then Mysterio took it to the next level. That showed
that it could be you could be a world champion
with a superhero brought to life type of archetype in
pro wrestling. And then for a while we didn't we
didn't know what the next jump was. I feel like
even before that you've seen an Undertaker brought to life
and on screen, but for a while we didn't see
(08:58):
the next jump in evolution of where's the next platform?
Until I seen bray Wyatt really get a lot of
that freedom.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
With The Fiend.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Then it was like, Okay, now we are tapping into
something new and going to a different way. For me,
it was like, Okay, how do I humanize that? How
do I make that like how do I bring my
culture to the forefront of it but humanize it to
a sense where it's like it's not too far fetched
of like where it's becoming a I would say, a
(09:31):
caricature of something. It's like, no, I believe that. I
believe everything you know, and it's not satire. It's actually like, no,
this is who he is, this is what he is.
And I just the first promo I did, it was
like the back and Forth on aw Rampage. It was
against Tony Nice and told me we had the back
and Forth promo and he called me some rapper and
(09:52):
I was like, I didn't even have anything in my
head as far as like what I was going to say.
I was literally just flowing. And he was like he
called me like some rapper or whatever. And I was like, hey, careful,
how you use the word rapper because I'm a mogil
and I was like, that's what it is. That's what
it is. And I kind of ran with that. I
was like, how do I get more of the Mogul
(10:13):
and more business side of hip.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Hop all that? Like, yeah, and you guys have been
doing that so well since then. That's great.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, hats off to Tony Khan because this has been
a partnership when it comes to like the Mogul characters swerve,
it wasn't just all me and my design, and this
is him allowing me and having the freedom and then
having the trust me to bring like Kevin Gates and
had to celebrate the tag team titles and liked fat
fabulous walk out on stage with me at Grand Slam
(10:43):
at Arthur ash Arena, and then being able to have
me go to Rolling Loud and have me do these things.
But then with the Rick Ross thing and it was like, okay, cool,
Now we need to transition and the boss needs to
take control. But he knows what it is. He knows
how to not make it like, not bring it down.
He's like, no, I want to amplify this. And I
(11:05):
was like, and I had to take my hands off
the steering wheel. And that's like when it's something that's
your baby, and you're proud and joy You're like, oh man,
I don't want to give this up, but I had
to do that and trusting that. And then he brought
into Nona into Mobile Embassy and I was like, okay, okay,
and then I just rolled with the flow on on
(11:25):
that and that took it to the next level of
So now like the mobile has actually really come into
life because the music's going into NFL stadiums and is
going into hockey stadiums and people are dancing worldwide with
it and it really has streams.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's crazy. And you said that that evolution. It evolved
again after I don't remember how long it was with Nana,
but you had this moment on a walkout where he's
due doing his thing and you just stopped him. Yeah,
and you didn't say anything, and I was just like,
oh shit. It was such a great, like cinematic moment
(12:05):
that went beyond wrestling, and I thought connected And that's
I think that's your As great an athlete as you are,
I think that's your your Your greatest asset is your
ability to connect with people with Thank you for being
a part of this show man. Thank you for connecting
with our audience here at Michael Tura and I'd love
to talk more about acting with you when we get
off the air, but I thank you very much for
(12:26):
joining us. I thank our audience for another great season.
See you guys next season. For season four, I'm bath
from my awesome guest Swerf Strickland, my awesome co host Jeff.
I'm Freddie Prinz Junior. Wishing all of you peace. This
has been a production of Iheart's Michael Toura podcast Network.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(12:47):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ladies and gentlemen, Are you ready? It's about to hit
the fan. Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays, horestling with fready, Ladies
and gentlemen. Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays. No intro today because
I want to give you as much time as we
can with our guest. And this is part two of
(00:27):
the interview with Swerve Strickland. Welcome back to the show.
Happy Thursday to you and to everyone out there. Jeff,
to you as well. I want to get right into it,
and I think this is the most important question that
I had and I saved it all the way for
this because I don't know how much time it's going
to take. You have said this publicly and I want
(00:51):
this to happen for you in every way, shape or form.
I don't know how soon it has to happen, but
it has to happen. You are on the path and
you want to be the first Black champion in AAW,
World champion in AEW and I think the sky is
the limit for you. Jeff and I both think you're
a superstar. How fast do you I mean, it's the
(01:13):
new year, so how fast do you see this year moving?
For you. I mean, do you see this happening quickly?
Are you on a slow burn or you a rocket
ship strapped to you? What do you see in your
future as far as building this legacy toward that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Right now, I don't really put timetable on it because
I feel like everything has accelerated super fast for me
since being in AW Like. I didn't expect to win
the AW tag titles within like six months of me
being there. That was not on my to do list,
you know, but it ended up happening. I think I
(01:49):
had like since signing to AW Like, out of all
the people that signed to AW I think I had
like the second fastest to win a title in the
company's history behind FTR, being the first actually African American
tag team to win the titles as well, and then
going on to have the first African America two tag
(02:10):
teams going for the tag titles out of pay per
view as far as African Americans go. So like, those
are the kind of things you don't like plan out,
you don't like write that.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You can't write that kind of stuff. It just you
let the universe happen.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And then the fact of like going to like November
eighteenth was such a significant date was the Texas Death Match,
but like two years prior that was the day I
gotta let go from the WW. So that's another thing
you can't write. It's just all these things are like aligning,
So I can't like, I'm pretty sure being the first
African American World Champion NAW is going to the stars
(02:46):
are going to align at some point again, and I
can't like force that. I can't plan that. I kind
of just got to stay focused, like what the task
is in front of me right now? You know those things,
those are those things I gotta handle at this very
moment as we speak in But I wouldn't make the
case for being the first African American AW World Champion
(03:07):
if I didn't feel like I didn't have the qualifications
for that. That's like saying I don't think, like, don't
get in the NBA if you don't think you're World
champion material. You know, if you don't think you're a
Super Bowl contender, don't get in the NFL. You want
to perceive yourself as the best. That's why we compete,
that's why we grow, that's why we progress and stuff.
And I feel like I'm one of the most qualified,
(03:29):
not just African Americans. I feel like I'm one of
the most qualified superstars in the company in pro wrestling period,
to be a world champion. And it's something trash, if
something new, it's something people didn't see coming, and it's
something that'll like be the gut punch to a lot
of criticisms that we see online about the company. It's
a lot of like truly new era for the industry period.
(03:54):
You know, I feel like I can. I'm responsible enough
to hold that title. I move in a certain professional
way that nobody else really does or has the caveat
to do. I kind of can bounce between a film
and then a music video and then be on stage
or Rick Ross and Kevin Gates and then go back
to performing at a high level on Wednesday Nights and
(04:17):
Dynamite and then prepare for a pay per view and
then go back to do my podcast and have Freddie
Prince Junior on and stuff like that. You know, like
there's not anybody else in the industry that can that's
really pulling that off besides like Chris Jericho, and hats
off to him for really creating that kind of mold,
that format that structure to be able to do that.
(04:37):
You know, He's opened up the doorways, and I'm like, Okay,
how do I find my identity in that kind of space?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
You know, dude, When I was a kid, You're blowing
my mind. When I was a kid, the only like
Puerto Ricans you would see or Latinos that you would
see on television were either selling drugs or in gangs
and getting arrested. And my grandmother introduced me to Lutli
in professional wrestling so that we could see heroes. Right, Yes,
(05:05):
you know how likable you are? Right, you realize you're
gonna be a role model for kids coming up watching wrestling, going,
holy shit, I can do that too. I relate to
this guy on a level that I haven't related to
anyone in movies and TV things like that, because he's
really talking to me. You see that, right? You know that?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yes, I would hope, so I would hope to be
like a role mode. I'm a father of two girls,
so I think that's that part of me that wants
to be like I wouldn't say wants to be likable,
but it humbles me to a space where I'm still
I still have people to look out for. And I
know there's a younger generation looking up to me, you know,
I want to I don't want to be another story
(05:45):
on social media, like oh what could have been? And
that's like the one of my biggest fears of like
just falling short of getting so close to something, you know.
And I've had family members that I've grew up seeing
that are like superstars.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
In high school, I had the whole world handed to them.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They had college letters sent to their doorway, like right
on the front door, that they had it right there,
and then it's just fumbled because of like decisions, being
in the wrong place the wrong time, making the like
being the city just eating them up and engulfing them
now they never can leave and stuff like that. And
that was never me. I've never done a drug a
day of my life. I never had an alcohol because
(06:23):
those those little small things can just derail you and
take your whole life away that you work so hard for.
So I'm really cautious about the way I move. I'm
really I have a great support system, like the two
mothers of my kids. I got my mother, my sisters,
my daughters. I'm surrounded by women, So I yeah, like
I'm surrounded by a niece, a nephew, you know. But
(06:47):
like so with that being said, I kind of have
to be the guy. I have to be the man
in their lives because a lot of us don't. A
lot of them don't have fathers, you know. So I
got to be the one too for I got to
be the son to my mother, you know. I got
to be the brother to my two sisters. I got
to be the father to my two girls and the
uncle to my niece. That's like, that's a lot of responsibility,
(07:07):
and I don't want to I don't want to let
that down.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll finish off with this. You have such an open
mind as far as where your career is gonna take you.
You said earlier that your podcast partner kind of brought
the artist out in you, but you are that. You
are an artist. You are a storyteller. I'd love to
for you to talk about not just in the wrestling ring,
(07:37):
but the things that you have going on outside, especially
with your music, as far as self expression and the
ability to do that, and the and the way you've
sort of blended these two worlds together and brought this
authentic character to television in a way that a lot
of people just can't do.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I started seeing a lot of the similarities that all
my loves and all the things that I like, I'm
a big fan of, you know, the comic book world.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
We've seen that.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I feel like when it first started, when wrestling really
picked up on like a national television syndicated form, well
it was a lot of comic books coming to life,
superheroes coming to life, you know, with like the Hurricane,
and before that you were really seeing like Fisherman characters
that mid mid to late nineties and stuff. They were
like like, though, these are superheroes brought to life.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah helms right, Yeah, shout out Shane elms Man. I
love them, man, great dude.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
But that was like one of the times you're like, oh,
then Mysterio took it to the next level. That showed
that it could be you could be a world champion
with a superhero brought to life type of archetype in
pro wrestling. And then for a while we didn't we
didn't know what the next jump was. I feel like
even before that you've seen an Undertaker brought to life
and on screen, but for a while we didn't see
(08:58):
the next jump in evolution of where's the next platform?
Until I seen bray Wyatt really get a lot of
that freedom.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
With The Fiend.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Then it was like, Okay, now we are tapping into
something new and going to a different way. For me,
it was like, Okay, how do I humanize that? How
do I make that like how do I bring my
culture to the forefront of it but humanize it to
a sense where it's like it's not too far fetched
of like where it's becoming a I would say, a
(09:31):
caricature of something. It's like, no, I believe that. I
believe everything you know, and it's not satire. It's actually like, no,
this is who he is, this is what he is.
And I just the first promo I did, it was
like the back and Forth on aw Rampage. It was
against Tony Nice and told me we had the back
and Forth promo and he called me some rapper and
(09:52):
I was like, I didn't even have anything in my
head as far as like what I was going to say.
I was literally just flowing. And he was like he
called me like some rapper or whatever. And I was like, hey, careful,
how you use the word rapper because I'm a mogil
and I was like, that's what it is. That's what
it is. And I kind of ran with that. I
was like, how do I get more of the Mogul
(10:13):
and more business side of hip.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Hop all that? Like, yeah, and you guys have been
doing that so well since then. That's great.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, hats off to Tony Khan because this has been
a partnership when it comes to like the Mogul characters swerve,
it wasn't just all me and my design, and this
is him allowing me and having the freedom and then
having the trust me to bring like Kevin Gates and
had to celebrate the tag team titles and liked fat
fabulous walk out on stage with me at Grand Slam
(10:43):
at Arthur ash Arena, and then being able to have
me go to Rolling Loud and have me do these things.
But then with the Rick Ross thing and it was like, okay, cool,
Now we need to transition and the boss needs to
take control. But he knows what it is. He knows
how to not make it like, not bring it down.
He's like, no, I want to amplify this. And I
(11:05):
was like, and I had to take my hands off
the steering wheel. And that's like when it's something that's
your baby, and you're proud and joy You're like, oh man,
I don't want to give this up, but I had
to do that and trusting that. And then he brought
into Nona into Mobile Embassy and I was like, okay, okay,
and then I just rolled with the flow on on
(11:25):
that and that took it to the next level of
So now like the mobile has actually really come into
life because the music's going into NFL stadiums and is
going into hockey stadiums and people are dancing worldwide with
it and it really has streams.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's crazy. And you said that that evolution. It evolved
again after I don't remember how long it was with Nana,
but you had this moment on a walkout where he's
due doing his thing and you just stopped him. Yeah,
and you didn't say anything, and I was just like,
oh shit. It was such a great, like cinematic moment
(12:05):
that went beyond wrestling, and I thought connected And that's
I think that's your As great an athlete as you are,
I think that's your your Your greatest asset is your
ability to connect with people with Thank you for being
a part of this show man. Thank you for connecting
with our audience here at Michael Tura and I'd love
to talk more about acting with you when we get
off the air, but I thank you very much for
(12:26):
joining us. I thank our audience for another great season.
See you guys next season. For season four, I'm bath
from my awesome guest Swerf Strickland, my awesome co host Jeff.
I'm Freddie Prinz Junior. Wishing all of you peace. This
has been a production of Iheart's Michael Toura podcast Network.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(12:47):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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