AEW Star Swerve Strickland Recalls Almost Quitting Wrestling

Swerve Strickland almost left wrestling behind.

On August 25th, Swerve Strickland will headline AEW All In, and wrestle the biggest match of his life. In the main event, Strickland will defend his World Championship against Bryan Danielson, but there’s another prize on offer.

Should Strickland win, he’ll forever be remembered as the man who retired Bryan Danielson.

Despite the success he’s currently enjoying, Strickland’s career has seen its fair share of setbacks. The star struggled for years to gain national exposure, and then his main roster WWE career came to an abrupt halt before it had a chance to get going.

One of Strickland’s biggest career breakthroughs came in 2014 when he became part of Lucha Underground under the name Killshot. Speaking in a new interview with SHAK Wrestling, the star admitted that just before signing that deal he was close to quitting wrestling entirely.

“Definitely earlier on. Feeling lowest was like probably right before Lucha Underground came around. It was like, ‘oh man, it’s either I continue on this independence or I just got to go to Japan for a year, find a way to do that,’ Which I still didn’t have like a real connection or any type of link to get to that.

Either that or just like I’m gonna have to go full-time active duty in the military. It was like that turning point, and then Lucha Underground came in as an opportunity. It wasn’t even just a contract; it was more of like a tryout for Lucha Underground in dark matches. They didn’t even know yet.”

Swerve Strickland Heading For Huge Rematch

Looking beyond All In, it’s been reported that Adam Page will square off against Swerve Strickland at All Out.

Page and Strickland have a rivalry stretching back 11 months, and across several brutal battles — not to mention a home invasion. The pair most recently clashed at Blood & Guts with Page forming part of The Elite, while Strickland was on Team AEW.

H/t to SEScoops