Pro-wrestling star Shane “Swerve” Strickland recently joined Fightful’s Grapsody podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, including what he hopes to provide in the business and how he hopes to challenge the mindset of how talent is valued. Highlights are below.
Says he hopes to challenge the mindset of in-ring talent:
“I want to feel like I changed the narrative of the value of an in-ring talent. There is a lot of value put behind match quality, which is good, great, amazing. We need to be good at what we do and be top performers, but there is this hierarchy that is set that, you have to meet this to be considered one of the best or top tier, and that’s not the case. It’s like saying, if you keep the hierarchy like that, centers can’t be the best in the world, it’s always shooting guards. How we view basketball is, ‘the best players in the world are scorers.’ Generally, true, but (Nikola) Jokic just won MVP. It’s a narrative that is changing, the best scorer isn’t necessarily the best in the world. It’s the best all-around performer. In the NFL, Tom Brady is the greatest of all-time, right? Odell Beckham Jr is the most followed. It’s not just the stats. It’s very subjective. What is a star? Is it the stats? The performance? The appeal? There are so many different elements that go into it.”
How wrestlers are viewed on the grading scale:
“I feel like grading on the scale is the same criteria and same lane, then it’s moved constantly for certain people because they don’t necessarily perform this (high) rate, so, ‘we can’t put them in the top 10. We don’t talk about them on a weekly basis.’ Okay, but this person provides way more than what this person is doing. I’m not taking anything away from them, but if you’re going to start grading this, we have to start putting them in the same lane. Overall appeal. If you want to go by that, Brock Lesnar is the best in the world. Bobby Lashley is top five, but that’s not the scale. That’s not how we move it. I’m going to be the one to change the narrative with what I’m about to do. I sit back and I’m quiet. You don’t really hear me critique, put my opinion out, if I do, it’s positive. The last thing I tweeted was ‘GUNTHER and Roddy Strong are killing it on NXT.’ I’m patient, I’m quiet, I let everybody have their turn and talk their shit and move the goalposts for all these guys. Shoutout to a lot of these dudes, they are all my friends, I love them to death, I talk to them, shout them out, praise them, it’s their time. Go showcase what you’re doing. I’m going to be there, ‘you’re doing you’re thing.’”
What he hopes to provide for the business:
“When it’s my turn, keep that same energy. When I’m doing something that is different from you, at still a high level, keep the same criteria, and my name better be slided somewhere in there. I want to change that narrative that is put out there, especially for people of color in this industry. I really feel, what I’m about to provide, is something that hasn’t been done. I’ve done it many times on many contracts and television programs, and people constantly forget that. The fact that me and Dante Fox never had a five-star match. Okay, cool. That also changed the narrative for the television show. I changed that then in 2017. NXT, ‘Swerve is doing his thing, but he’s not putting on for the cruiserweight championship.’ Changed up some stuff, made people uncomfortable, didn’t understand what was going on. Boom, Hit Row emerges. Rapped on a cipher. My podcast goes to WWE Network. First episode, Drew McIntyre, WWE Champion. Didn’t change the narrative, okay, cool. Did a hip-hop cipher, national TV, never happened before. There have been rap performances, but never a cipher. Four people, in sync, a female involved. Changed the narrative. I have the track record to prove it, but it’s not talked about. Okay, cool, I have to do it again. This time, I raise the bar again. That’s how confident I am about my abilities, my team involved. It’s not just me. My Swerve City team, my management team. Swerve is not just me, it’s a brand, a crew of people that help run this. I have a crew in LA. I can’t take credit, it’s a team.”