AEW Champ Swerve Strickland Discusses Painting With 'Blank Canvas,' Christian Cage

Over the last year, the character of Swerve Strickland has largely been infused with elements taken from classic horror movies such as "Jaws," "The Blair Witch Project," "Paranormal Activity" and "Hostel." In assessing his current feud with Christian Cage, though, Strickland recently noted that he's approached it with a fresh palette of ideas.

"I honestly say I'm painting with another blank canvas again," Strickland told "Wrestling With Freddie." "And so, right now, I'm just gathering my tools. I'm gathering my instruments to start painting this iteration of Swerve. We've seen Swerve as that hungry, predatorial-like figure of like I'm hunting prey to try to get to where I need to go, and I'm taking out every other predator in the animal kingdom to try to get there. Now it's like, 'Okay, you're at the top of the mountain. How do we see him now?' It's like, okay, now [with] everything we built, we got to kind of scrap that a little bit, but we kind of want to keep those core things that made me who I am. There still has to be a danger about me. And when I'm faced with danger, when I'm faced with threat, I come back ten times harder, because that's what got me to where I am."

Looking ahead to AEW Double or Nothing, where is slated to defend his AEW World Championship against Cage, Strickland is faced with multiple threats. Aside from Cage himself, Strickland also continues to be an enemy of Cage's allies — Killswitch, Nick Wayne and Mother Wayne. On the latest episode of "AEW Dynamite," though, another source of danger emerged, as Strickland's own Mogul Embassy stablemates – Toa Liona, Bishop Kaun, and Brian Cage — unleashed a treacherous attack on him.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling With Freddie" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.