Swerve Strickland says he was ‘bullsh—ed around’ at WWE Performance Center

  • Ian Carey
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Swerve Strickland says a match he had on 205 Live led him to believe the WWE Performance Center was “bullsh—ing him around.”

Strickland was with the company from 2019 up until his release in November 2021. During a recent interview with DJ Vlad, Strickland says it felt as though WWE was trying to “backtrack” him after he and Drew Gulak wrestled for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in Miami.

“The one day I knew I was getting bullsh—ed around the PC was when I was there for like three or four months and I got called to do 205 Live against Drew Gulak, who had the Cruiserweight Championship,” Swerve said. At the time, 205 Live was being taped after episodes of WWE SmackDown.

Swerve continued, “So, we had to go last on that night in Miami after you’ve seen all the stars. And it was me and Drew Gulak. We went 18 minutes in the ring straight for the Cruiserweight Championship. Everybody’s on their feet going crazy. I have ‘Swerve’s House’ signs, like, going after Roman.”

“They’re not chanting, ‘This is awesome!’ They’re chanting, ‘Let’s go Swerve!’ They’re actually rooting for me to win this title and I’m losing to Drew Gulak. Got great praise in the back coming afterward.”

He mentioned Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Kofi Kingston, and Samoa Joe as people who praised him backstage after the match.

“Everybody’s giving me crazy praise. I come back to the PC and they’re trying to teach you arm drags again. I’m like, get the f–k out of here with that. They’re trying to tell me how to entertain 400 people in NXT when I just entertained 6000 in the stadium. I’m like, why are you trying to backtrack me?”

Gulak defeated Strickland to retain the cruiserweight title at the July 23, 2019, 205 Live tapings in Miami.

Strickland’s full interview with DJ Vlad is available behind a paywall here.