AEW's Swerve Strickland Thinks This Indie Match Got Him Hired By WWE

AEW star Swerve Strickland has revealed that his highly-rated match against AR Fox in Lucha Underground ultimately led to him being signed by WWE.

Strickland was an important part of the now-defunct Lucha Underground program, where he went by the name Killshot. During a recent appearance on "Vlad TV," the former AEW World Champion believes that his Hell Of War match with Fox — known as Dante Fox in Lucha Underground — caught the eyeballs of many in the business, including WWE.

"I think so [the match helped him get signed by WWE]. Yeah, it was just like — and that was one of the things — like, 'Get your name talked about as much as you can.' And we went out there on a mission to just show that there's no way you can miss this. There's no way, like, anybody, anywhere, can't talk about this. Or if you talk about it, everybody knows exactly which match you're talking about. 'Oh, that match? Yeah, yeah,"' said Strickland. "And it was just one of the mixed blends of athleticism, lucha, actual storytelling, [and] brutality. Like, it mixed everything together, and it showcased more of... not just, like, crash wrestling, but actual, like, story arcing with characters and meaning behind it."

Strickland discussed how his psychology in wrestling involves making the bad guy more powerful and smarter than the good guy, comparing it to how Spider-Man's nemeses are always stronger and wiser than him. He also revealed that the match was filmed in 2016, but released a year later.

The AEW star joined WWE in 2019 and had a two-year run with the promotion before joining AEW, where he has renewed his rivalry with Fox. Strickland and Fox had teamed and fought against each other in numerous promotions before the former joined WWE, which includes promotions like CZW and EVOLVE.