Swerve Strickland Attributes Hit Row’s WWE Releases To “Paradigm Shift”

During an exclusive interview with WhatCulture Wrestling, AEW Superstar Swerve Strickland spoke about Hit Row's WWE release back in November.

Swerve discussed how he took the release and why it ultimately was more of a positive than a negative for his career.

"It was like a gut punch at first, the first couple weeks were," Swerve said. "Honestly, after Briana was let go from the group, it kind of was like, wow, you might as well let it all go. Seeing the direction the companies going in right now, it just doesn't fit Hit Row and we don't fit the company.

"The way they did it was like, okay, you let us go but it was like a blessing in disguise, it should've been an even split because we don't fit anywhere where their product is trying to give and what they're trying to push toward the future."

Continuing to talk about his time working with Hit Row Records, Swerve Strickland mentioned how effective the group was together and how they would bounce ideas off each other. The AEW superstar also ultimately revealed why he thinks all four members of the group were released by WWE, mentioning the direction the company is going in with younger talent.

"It was natural," Swerve said. "We literally were friends, we went shopping together and hung out, all four of us, and spent hours just joking, laughing, writing stuff. It got to a point where they would just come up to us with a microphone in front of the SmackDown thing, and say, 'you've got a minute to talk about this,'

"AJ would come over here, Briana would come over here, Tahooty would come over here. It was just like all off the top of our heads, just flowing. It was the paradigm shift of where the company was going. Now they want young talent, 20-25 years old, we don't fit that."

Swerve signed with AEW following his WWE release in March, appearing at AEW Revolution. When recently talking about his time in NXT, Swerve Strickland mentioned how Triple H had many missed opportunities with NXT over core Black and Gold talent.

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