When discussing his brief but eventful run in WWE from 2019 through 2021, AEW’s Swerve Strickland has been upfront about not seeing eye to eye with Triple H, who was then in charge of “NXT.” Though he’s stopped short of badmouthing WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Strickland has held firm that Triple H seemed to favor other talents over him, and it was only through the backing of other WWE higher ups, like Shawn Michaels, that Strickland was able to eventually get consistent screen time.

Speaking with “Kings of the Ring,” Strickland detailed his interactions with Triple H just prior to Strickland forming the stable Hit Row with B-Fab, Top Dolla, and Ashante Thee Adonis. Once again, Strickland insinuated that Triple H had been slow to do anything with him, and it was only with outside help did Strickland wind up with the group.

“Triple H, me and him were just going back and forth,” Strickland said. “He was, like, dodging me, when I was coming up with creative questions and stuff. And then, finally, I think it was like Stephanie McMahon that really, like, told me ‘He’s my favorite heel on the show.’ And then that’s where, like ‘Okay, now we’ve got to start putting some fire behind Swerve.’ 

“So they were like ‘Hey, I think we’re going to put this group behind you. How do you feel?’ I wasn’t really…I didn’t do groups at the time. I was independent, jumping from city to city, country to country to country. So running a group was just, like, not my thing. I didn’t know how to. But the group became more like, less them being backing for me. We became a gelled group, like, all four corners. And the time was good. It was fine. I wish we had more time together with it, but, you know, things happened.”

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