AEW's Swerve Strickland Discusses Relationship With WWE Star CM Punk

CM Punk's two-year stint in AEW will go down in history as one of the most infamous periods in the man's career. He was welcomed with open arms at "The First Dance" edition of "AEW Rampage" in 2021, before going on to have standout matches with Darby Allin and Eddie Kingston as well as a lengthy feud with MJF. However, after his first reign with the AEW World Championship, things went south very quickly, getting into brawls backstage with The Elite and Jack Perry, before getting fired in September 2023.

Punk's last match on TV was an eight-man tag team bout on the August 26, 2023 "AEW Collision," which also featured Swerve Strickland. Speaking with "Bootleg Kev," Strickland opened up about his interactions with Punk, and they were all positive. "I had great experiences with him," Strickland said. "I didn't interact with him a lot, but I always had good, positive interactions. My first day there, I was taking my photos and my renders, he jumped in and photobombed it. I never even spoke to him, never had an introduction to him, but that was his first interaction to me, and I was like 'oh man this is cool, that's dope."

Strickland's debut for AEW came at Revolution 2022, the same night that Punk defeated MJF in a Dog Collar Match, and even though he was preparing for a war with Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Punk still had time to see how Strickland's segment went. "I went out, did my contract signing and he's like 'how did it go man?' I was like 'dude it went excellent thank you.' He's always been a positive influence on me." 

Please credit "Bootleg Kev" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.