Amidst his in-ring assembly with MVP at AEW WrestleDream, former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland name-dropped the promotion by which he and MVP beforehand wrestled, DEFY Wrestling. As Strickland famous on the WrestleDream post-show media scrum, DEFY additionally helped lay the groundwork for his present success in AEW.
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“I like DEFY. That is a flag I will at all times plant and each time I get an opportunity to shout them out, particularly within the state [of Washington], I am gonna do it,” Strickland stated. “DEFY actually was the birthplace for lots of us to essentially get to the following stage, particularly on the impartial stage. That was actually the place elite wrestling got here from. Particularly for this space, Pacific Northwest, there’s solely a handful of fellows which have actually made a reputation for themselves out of this space. DEFY sort of launched a complete new crop, a complete new wave, like myself, Darby [Allin], Nick Wayne.”
Earlier this yr, Strickland returned to DEFY to rejoice his previous victory at AEW Dynasty, which concurrently topped him as the brand new AEW World Champion. In doing this, Strickland additionally regarded again on his early profession days in DEFY, together with his GFW NEXGEN Championship match towards Cody Rhodes on the promotion’s inaugural present in 2017. Since then, Strickland continued to soar by means of the rankings of the impartial circuit, signed with WWE, and later AEW.
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“[DEFY] actually taught me how you can really be a star,” Strickland stated. “You at all times need to go to locations the place you need to discover ways to wrestle, however there’s only a few locations that train you how you can be a star; DEFY did that for me.”
Should you use any of the quotes on this article, please credit score AEW with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
