Swerve Strickland

**Stephon Strickland** (born September 30, 1990) is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He currently wrestles for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and competes under the ring name **Swerve Strickland**. He is a former one-time AEW World Champion and the first black wrestler to win this title.

He is also known for his time wrestling in WWE where he wrestled under the ring name **Isaiah "Swerve" Scott** and was a one-time NXT North American Champion. Strickland has also competed for Major League Wrestling (MLW), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and Evolve. He wrestled under a mask for Lucha Underground as **Killshot**. During his time in AEW, Strickland has also been a one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion.

Outside of professional wrestling, Strickland is also a rapper. He performs under the name Swerve the Realest and also raps in the hip hop group Swerve City. Strickland hosts a podcast with Monteasy called Swerve City Podcast.

### All Elite Wrestling

On March 6, 2022 at Revolution, Strickland debuted with All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Strickland made his AEW in-ring debut on the March 11 episode of _Rampage_ where he defeated Tony Nese.

After a match between Keith Lee and The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens), Team Taz's Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks attacked Lee with The Acclaimed. Swerve came out with a chair and saved Lee. Afterward, Swerve and Lee began teaming under the name Swerve in Our Glory.

On July 13, during Night 1 of Fyter Fest, Swerve in Our Glory defeated The Young Bucks and Team Taz in a Triple or Nothing match to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships. This gave Strickland his first championship in AEW. They would lose the titles to The Acclaimed at Grand Slam.

On the December 21, 2022 episode of _Dynamite_, Strickland turned heel. He revealed his new group called "Mogul Affiliates" with member Parker Boudreaux, Trench, and rapper Rick Ross. They all attacked Keith Lee and Swerve stomped and broke a cinderblock on Lee stomach. Trench was later released from AEW when his contract expired. On the April 7, 2023 episode of _Dynamite_, Swerve announced that he was merging his group with The Embassy, they would be called Mogul Embassy and he would own 51%.

At WrestleDream on October 1, 2023, Swerve faced "Hangman" Adam Page in front of his home state crowd in Washington. He was able to defeat Page in the match. On the March 27, 2024 episode of _Dynamite_, Strickland, who turned face again, defeated Konosuke Takeshita to become the number-one contender for Samoa Joe's AEW World Championship at Dynasty. At the event on April 21, Strickland defeated Joe to become the first African American AEW World Champion. On August 25 at All In, he lost the title to Bryan Danielson via submission.

## Championships and accomplishments

- **All Elite Wrestling**
    - AEW World Championship (1 time)
    - AEW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Keith Lee
- **Combat Zone Wrestling**
    - CZW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    - CZW Wired TV Championship (2 times)
- **DEFY Wrestling**
    - DEFY World Championship (3 times)
    - Defy Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Christopher Daniels
- **Evolve**
    - Evolve Championship (1 time)
- **Ground Xero Wrestling**
    - GXW Respect Championship (1 time)
- **Lucha Underground**
    - Lucha Underground Trios Championship (2 times) – with A. R. Fox and Willie Mack (1) and The Mack and Son of Havoc (1)
- **Major League Wrestling**
    - MLW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    - MLW World Heavyweight Title Tournament (2018)
- **Next Generation Wrestling**
    - NGW Championship (1 time)
- **PCW Ultra**
    - PCW Ultra Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    - PCW Ultralight Championship (1 time)
- ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
    - Ranked No. 82 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the _PWI 500_ in 2022
- ***Sports Illustrated***
    - Ranked No. 8 of the top 10 wrestlers of 2023
- **Vicious Outcast Wrestling**
    - VOW Hyper Sonic Championship (1 time)
- **Westside Xtreme Wrestling**
    - wXw World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with David Starr
    - World Tag Team League (2016) – with David Starr
- **WrestleCircus**
    - WrestleCircus Ringmaster Championship (1 time)
- **WWE**
    - NXT North American Championship (1 time)

## Infobox (wrestler)

- **name**: Swerve Strickland
- **names**: Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
Killshot
Lt. Jermaine Strickland
Shane Strickland
Shane "Swerve" Strickland
SW3RVE The Realest
SW3RVE
**Swerve Strickland**
- **image**: Swerve Strickland, Feb 2022 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Strickland in 2022
- **birth place**: Tacoma, Washington
- **billed**: **Tacoma, Washington**
- **trainer**: Combat Zone Wrestling, CZW Wrestling School
D.J. Hyde
Ground Xero Wrestling Training Academy
- **debut**: 2011