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.

Career
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)

 References 

Other websites



Category:1990 births
Category:Living people
Category:All Elite Wrestling people
Category:American professional wrestlers
Category:American rappers
Category:Former WWE wrestlers
Category:Sportspeople from Tacoma, Washington