AEW's Swerve Strickland Comments On Static Shock-Inspired Dynasty Ring Gear

Modern professional wrestling takes a lot of cues from comic books. From its storytelling tropes to the elaborate costuming, it's not difficult to trace the influence of superhero tales on many of today's most popular wrestlers. That includes Swerve Strickland, who wrestled at AEW Dynasty this past Sunday in gear inspired by DC Comics character Static Shock.

"This design spoke to me," Strickland said, quoting a picture of himself wearing the gear at the pay-per-view on X.

Static Shock is best known for having his own animated series that ran in the early 2000s. The character was created for the comics in 1993 by a team of creatives at Milestone Comics, led by writer Dwayne McDuffie. Milestone is an imprint of DC created in the early 1990s to improve representation of Black people in comics, with Static often seen as the brand's lead character. Though the "Static Shock" animated series has been off the air for many years, the character remains active in print alongside other DC heroes.

Strickland's gear consisted of a black and yellow jacket reminiscent of a firefighter's outfit, a shirt emblazoned with a lightning bolt, and a set of yellow-tinted goggles. The clothing was designed by artist Nikolas Draper-Ivey, who Strickland credited on social media.

Despite the special gear, Strickland wasn't able to recapture the AEW World Championship at Dynasty. When it looked as though Strickland had Jon Moxley beat, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson of the Young Bucks returned after five months and attacked the challenger. This gave Moxley the opening he needed, and the show ended with the champion retaining.