Ex-AEW Champion Swerve Strickland opens up on John Cena’s influence in his career

Former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland has opened up in detail about John Cena’s influence on his career.

A former WWE star himself, Strickland parted ways with the promotion in 2021 to join forces with AEW in 2022. A part of an alliance with Keith Lee and the Mogul Embassy, Strickland soon found his rhythm and began his singles journey. A former World Champion and one of the top stars on the roster, Strickland recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet about how John Cena influenced him in his AEW career and relationship with Tony Khan.

“I got this information from Paul Wight, Big Show,”  Strickland said. “We’re sitting at catering one day. Also one of the times I was just coming off tagging with Keith Lee. So I was like, in that little singles void, which happens to everybody. It doesn’t happen just at AEW, it happens everywhere in wrestling, when a tag team has been tagging, then you split off into like, alright, what are these two guys do? Who’s going where?

“So he was just like, you know, one thing that I’ve always respected about John Cena, and you talked to the man, I was like, he always brought Vince what he wanted,” he continued.

Strickland shared more details about Cena’s relationship with Vince McMahon and how it helped the All Elite Wrestling star.

“He always made sure Vince got what he wanted. He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen, I sat in Gorilla and watched him, where before he would go out there, he would say, ‘Vince, what do you want? What are you looking for?’,” Strickland added. “And he would go out there and gave him exactly what he was looking for, exactly what he wanted. He came back, and Vince was like, ‘That’s what I was looking for.’ So Vince was like, That’s my guy to get exactly what I’m looking for, whether you agree with it or not, whether you like it or not, he’s going to come back and give this guy what he wants. And that’s why Cena is where Cena is.”

Further, Strickland also added that observing Cena’s methods helped Strickland change his own mindset and gain Khan’s trust.

Swerve Strickland shares his ‘rock-bottom’ moment in pro-wrestling career

In the same interview with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland opened up about the “rock-bottom” of his career.

“I would say just the independent grind between 2011, 12, 13, it was the point of just spinning wheels over and over again,” he shared. “That’s also when my both my daughters were born. So it’s just like, Okay, now it’s making very little money, no car, two daughters to feed, two different households.

“I still had the military, but I have all these commitments. But it took me a good couple of years to really find my footing and my groove, to really get into, just to maintain okay, that’s settled, that’s handled. All right, this is still behind, but I can figure something out. I think that’s where it was. It was just the process of figuring it out,” he continued.

One of the top stars, Strickland recently returned from his injury at Full Gear 2025.

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