AEW’s Swerve Strickland Got Approval From NBA Legend For New Shoe
Swerve Strickland got an assist from a basketball legend regarding a new show that the AEW superstar launched.
Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland has become one of the most popular wrestlers in the company due to his toughness, charisma, and ability to have great matches. Swerve is also a great talker, so the fans have gotten behind him as much as anybody in AEW.
Outside the ring, Swerve Strickland is known for his musical skills as a rapper and his interest in shoes, among other things.
The phrase “Swerve’s House” that Strickland and his manager, Prince Nana, use has also helped him gain fan support, as when they ask, “Whose House?” the fans love to respond with “Swerve’s House” right on cue.
Recently, AEW’s Swerve Strickland and Reebok collaborated to release the ‘Reebok Answer 3 Swerve’ shoe.
Allen Iverson is a Basketball Hall of Famer and an NBA legend known as “The Answer” in the basketball world. Iverson is also someone who has a lifetime contract with Reebok, having worked with them for the past 30 years, and serves as their Vice President of the basketball division.
During an appearance on the Battleground Podcast, Swerve Strickland spoke about his new shoe and the involvement of the legendary basketball icon, Allen Iverson.
“It was something that All Elite Wrestling always wanted to capitalize on with me. The one that was previous was gonna be personalized, one by a friend of mine, Mache, who has his own brand. He did collaborative shoes with Odell Beckham Jr., with Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson and Stefon Diggs. He’s big in the NFL, you know, in the world and he also has golf shoes now too.
That was about to be something we were gonna partner and really sign off, do something bigger with. But All Elite Wrestling, they were like, ‘Alright, you have the option to do this, or, we have the option to do this, and really blow this up and keep it under the All Elite Wrestling umbrella and truly reach out to the connections that we have.
Not only just make this your thing but, a true partner and collaborative brand, and reaching out to Reebok, adding on Allen Iverson, who collaborated and posted and gave the thumbs up for this sneaker was something I couldn’t pass up, you know? So that was something I had to put all my efforts and energy with and just my branding.”
Swerve Strickland’s Shoe Has Sold Very Well
As he continued, Swerve talked about how others in AEW worked with him and Champs Sports to get the new Reebok shoe out. Swerve also mentioned how well the shoe was selling.
“That shows the impact that I have being here in All Elite Wrestling. It wasn’t just me. It was All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan, Linda (Leludis), Chris Peck and a lot of these guys like Kosha (Irby) that came together to really put their best foot forward to make sure that this came out a success.
We wanted to come out the gate with a success, a bona fide, guaranteed success with Champs (Sports) and just by like noon o’clock Eastern Time, I believe it was just on the day of the release, there was 700 shoes sold and making it number one on Champs Sports.
Testament to just the team, the branding, the belief in me from Reebok, the belief in me from Allen Iverson, to even wanna post about it on his I.G. and the video and all that stuff. He said he was blown away about the whole thing (and) that’s a testament to the fanbase of All Elite Wrestling. Still continuing to purchase these shoes, to keep having to restock and… refresh the shoe and then you’re seeing the shoe go on Stockx for about $800 overseas.
It felt like a moment in time. It’s like, wow. It really makes me and the people believe that I am the franchise of All Elite Wrestling, you know?”
Swerve Strickland isn’t currently a part of the AEW All In Texas card on July 12th, but he will likely be announced for a match soon.
