AEW's Swerve Strickland Confirms He Wrestled With Knee Injury For Years

Between his long, violent war with "Hangman" Adam Page for the better part of the decade, and his bloody masterpiece against AR Fox during their days in Lucha Underground, Swerve Strickland is not a stranger to pain. He's also not afraid of working through pain for a long stretch of time. During an interview with "Hot97," Strickland was asked about the most painful experience he had as a wrestler, and told the story about how he worked through an injured knee for more than half a decade.

"I never had bad injuries, I just had, like, I tore my meniscus in 2019," Strickland said. "I didn't get the surgery until 2026. So like, I just wrestled on it, for like five years. I was performing, I never stopped. That was just something I just dealt with, just till I get all the achievements and stuff. Then I was like 'Okay, now I can take a break.'"

Strickland did accomplish a career's worth of accolades in between the time he injured his knee and got surgery. He would spend a few years wrestling for WWE, winning the NXT North American Championship and forming the popular stable Hit Row in the process. His greatest success would come once he arrived in AEW, however, with Strickland becoming an AEW World Tag Team Champion in 2022 and the first black wrestler to hold the AEW Men's World Championship in 2024. Alongside Adam Cole, MJF, Bryan Danielson, Page, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, and Will Ospreay, he was one of eight individuals to headline AEW's marquee event, All In, unsuccessfully defending the championship against Danielson at All In 2024.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Hot97" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription