Swerve Strickland Compares Himself To Top Marvel Villain

Swerve Strickland has likened himself to a Marvel Villain from The Black Panther.

Strickland is enjoying a fine run in All Elite Wrestling as of late, recently scoring a huge win over former AEW Champion ‘Hangman’ Adam Page at WrestleDream.

In a recent interview with Fightful’s Grapsody, the leader of the Mogul Embassy compared himself to Killmonger from Marvel franchise The Black Panther.

The character, portrayed by actor Michael B. Jordan in the motion picture, is popular amongst Marvel fans despite not being a typical clean cut hero. Strickland has drawn comparisons, believing that fans are buying into his work despite the heel-based nature of his persona:

“I’m giving them a different feel. I see myself almost like a Killmonger.

You know he’s doing some bad stuff in the movie, but you are going to gravitate towards him or be appalled by him, by his actions. That’s just a feel.”

Swerve Strickland Could Be AEW World Champion Within 18 Months

Strickland’s momentum has not gone unnoticed with his peers, with former ECW Champion Matt Hardy recently revealing on his podcast The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy that he believed an AEW World Championship run was just around the corner:

“I think he’s a guy that deserves to have a great spot in AEW and build around that guy, let him be one of the building blocks of the company.

I think he’s got a great look, I think he has a great personality. He’s just a good guy overall. He’s very dependable. I think that’s a very important part. If you have someone that has some great talent, but then they are a headache behind the scenes or if they’re just a malcontent, or they’re not happy, that becomes problematic sometimes, if you try and put a lot of equity or make the guy into one of the building blocks of your company, but Swerve is a great guy through and through a good dude.

Also, just the fact that he is black, that helps as well, because it’s very important now, especially in this day of equity and equality, that we have as many different faces and different-looking individuals that we can get the best opportunities, and he is a guy that’s totally deserving of it.

I think if he continues on this trajectory he’s currently on, I think within a year-and-a-half, there’s a great chance of him being the AEW World Champion.”

H/T: Fightful for the above transcription