On the way to All In, Swerve Strickland says the atmosphere in the AEW locker room was “great.”
Exactly one year ago at All In 2023, CM Punk got into an altercation with Jack Perry backstage, leading to Punk’s departure from AEW. Last month, MJF got into an altercation with Britt Baker backstage. Baker was briefly suspended, but both MJF and Will Ospreay said the incident was blown out of proportion.
When asked about the AEW locker room, Strickland said on Barstool Sports’ Rasslin’ podcast that everything is going great. He also believes that any problems within the roster have been exaggerated.
“It’s been great,” Strickland said. “I think everything has been exploited, a lot of it has definitely been exaggerated. They say it’s every other week, but it’s like — look at the last week, what did you hear? Look at the week before that, look at the last month, look at almost six months now, you haven’t heard anything. So to me, it’s almost calculated down to the smallest detail. Right before every pay-per-view, right before every big moment that we have, something always comes out. Because it’s like there’s always arguments in the locker room, it’s like that in every workplace.”
Strickland said that wherever you work, arguments are bound to happen. But most people don’t post about those arguments online. Problems come and go.
“This happens everywhere. So I’d rather people care about something and get upset about something than they couldn’t care less,” he said. “These are people who are passionate about their job, their work and what they do. And they’re probably the best at what they do too, you know? So these people take a lot of these things to heart. That shows me that you all care. For me, it’s literally about who says what, how loudly it’s said, in what forum. Like I said, I feel like AEW is always on the defensive about these things. And that comes from being the alternative. We have to be on the defensive a lot in scenarios like this. But that doesn’t stop us from continuing to deliver great products and great shows. That doesn’t stop people from continuing to come here and be a part of All Elite Wrestling. That doesn’t stop anything. So you can all have fun with the story, but then, okay, cool, we’re making that money again and doing great business and growing.”
As AEW World Champion, Strickland is one of the leaders in the locker room. Chris Jericho has named Strickland the captain of the AEW team.
“If you look at the NFL, you see the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks fighting each other. And nobody is saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers are falling apart and their organization is finished and they’re going to lose everything,” Strickland told Rasslin’. “No, it’s extremely competitive. These are competitive people. It happens. Everywhere.”
Strickland will defend the AEW World Title against Bryan Danielson this Sunday (August 25) at All In. The match comes with a stipulation that Danielson will leave the ring if he loses.
