AEW star Swerve Strickland recently spoke about the two wrestling veterans who helped him take his promos and in-ring wrestling psychology to the next level. Strickland has been rising up the ranks of AEW since joining in 2022. The peak of his career so far may be his war with “Hangman” Adam Page in a Texas Deathmatch at Full Gear in November.
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Swerve Strickland’s rise in popularity and skill is at least partially because two wrestling legends mentored him with his promos and in-ring character work. On a recent episode of Wrestling with Freddie, Strickland explained how Adam Copeland (Formerly known as Edge in WWE) helped him reach the next level in his promos. He said on Adam Copeland:
“Yeah, he’s [Copeland] been my mentor for the last two to three years, ever since I met him in NXT. Another guy that really brought that same type of mentality to me, but put it the in-ring sense … I’ll credit two people for this, definitely Adam Copeland as far as promo’ing and characters, because we share content, like sending YouTube videos on breakdowns of characters.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Swerve Strickland on Adam Copeland Helping Younger Talent
Swerve Strickland revealed that he and Copeland’s discussions on wrestling philosophy go as far as the color of a suit worn to the ring and how wearing it a certain way means a certain thing. Podcast host Freddie Prinze Jr. revealed that Copeland helped him a lot too when he first joined WWE as a writer. Copeland broke down wrestling to a level where Prinze could better build up to a match.
Copeland’s willingness to help younger talent develop is echoed by him during interviews and was one of the reasons he left WWE for AEW. His start from humble beginnings as an enhancement talent in WCW to the top of the card in WWF/WWE gave him a huge wealth of knowledge on the different facets of the pro wrestling business.
Strickland revealed that another person who helped him a lot was longtime WWE Performance Center coach Terry Taylor. He revealed that Taylor helped him a lot in showcasing his character in the ring and continuing the story while actually wrestling. The wrestler stated on Terry Taylor:
“It was Terry Taylor who really taught me how to bring it in ring and showcase the person. You have to showcase that you’re a person and the feel of it before it gets to action and fighting and moves and spots and running, jumping, and diving.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Swerve Strickland said that one of the things Taylor emphasized was the “why” of wrestling. After all the action, a wrestler has to understand why and how your character feels about what they just did and show the camera how they feel about what they just accomplished. Strickland reveals that over time this builds up a connection with the fans and gives them something to relate to.
Building Up Respect Across The Two Biggest American Promotions
Taylor is not a household name but is considered very underrated. For most of his career, he jumped around from territory to territory. These territories include some of the big territories at the time including Mid-South Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions which would become WCW, and even World Class Championship Wrestling where he wrestled Kevin Von Erich among others.
The majority of the late ‘80s and ‘90s Taylor jumped from WCW to WWF. All along the way building up knowledge and respect. In 2012, he was hired as a coach for the WWE Performance Center, where he and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels taught the final level of classes.
Strickland’s last match was on last week’s AEW Dynamite where defeated Daniel Garcia. “Hangman” Page came out and attacked Strickland after the match. It seems these two men are not quite done with their feud.
Many fans believe 2024 is the year for Strickland. He did very well in the Continental Classic and has taken his character work to the next level. Apparently, he is taking everything he has learned from Copeland and Taylor and using it well. Many think that he has a real shot at becoming the first black AEW World champion and will have to dethrone Samoa Joe to do so.
RELATED: Swerve Strickland Reveals the Impact Bray Wyatt Had on His Current Character
Can you see a vast improvement in Swerve Strickland’s character and in-ring work? Have you been able to see any similarities between Copeland with Strickland? Do you think Strickland will win the AEW World Championship this year? Let us know on social media if you would like to see Strickland resume his feud with Page or start a new one with another talent on the AEW roster.
SOURCE: Wrestling with Freddie, Wrestling Inc.
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