Swerve Strickland Reveals Frustrations From WWE NXT Run

Swerve Strickland is quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in All Elite Wrestling, with the Mogul Embassy leader tipped as a future world champion in the organisation.

What is AEW’s gain is seemingly WWE’s loss, as Strickland previously worked in NXT as Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott before receiving his release in November 2021. During a conversation with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Strickland revealed his frustrations with his run in NXT:

"Here's the frustrating part of this," Strickland said. "When WWE and 'NXT' are promoting this and doing this and this and that... and you're tweeting, supporting everything like, 'Oh, this is coming to the Peacock.' 'Yeah, we're doing this, retweet it.' 'Hey, this is the new show coming out'... they'll say nothing. You just tweet 'Unappreciated,' they call you. 'Hey man, We see you tweeted 'under-appreciated,' what was that all about?' But you miss all the other stuff that I did? You didn't see anything about me, like that two-minute promo video I put out [that] nobody mentioned. But you'll see that, though? So that was one of the things I brought up in the meeting. I was like, 'Exactly what I say, I feel unappreciated. I feel like I can do more. And I think y'all know that I can do more.'"

Strickland would have a run as NXT North American Champion, and would eventually get the ear of Shawn Michaels and Triople H, but his NXT career stalled:

"By that time I was already doing the 'NXT' Takeovers, and like the Worlds Collide, I was already being on everything and weekly TV," Strickland said. "But I always told Triple H at the time, first two months there [I] was like, 'Hey, thank you. I appreciate everything that you've given me. I'm happy to be here. What can I do to be one of your guys?' Then three months later, 'I appreciate everything. Thank you. This has been awesome to experience, appreciate you having me here. What would I have to do to be one of those guys?'

"Three months after that, like a year now? I'm like, 'What's stopping you from making me one of your guys?' Now it's like I'm putting the pressure on him. Because now the equity has grown. Now, he knows I'm serious. I know what I have to offer... It could be taken as disrespectful, like 'You don't know what you're talking about. You're not seeing me here.' But that's those risks I gotta take, you know, like, giving me the chance to fail."

H/T: Wrestling Inc.