Swerve Strickland has a clear answer for what made him the performer he is today — and it starts in The Temple. Appearing on the Battleground podcast, Strickland reflected on his time as Killshot in Lucha Underground, particularly the Hell of War match with AR Fox, and credited that chapter of his career with fundamentally changing how he saw himself.
“I feel like at the time I learned all that I could at that level with Lucha Underground and that’s what gave me the confidence to become Swerve,” Strickland said. “I needed to take the Killshot — not the name, but the education, the skillset, the knowledge and that instinct, the confidence that I grew becoming Killshot in The Temple of Lucha Underground. I had to take that confidence and put that towards Swerve and make Swerve that performer that Killshot was.”
Strickland Says His Confidence Continued to Grow After Moving to AEW
The growth didn’t stop when he transitioned from Lucha Underground to the bigger stage. “That grew immensely when I got into AEW. The confidence grew again,” Strickland said. The journey from masked trios competitor in The Temple to AEW World Champion is a testament to how much he internalized and built on those early lessons.