Swerve Strickland on AEW Pays Better than WWE for Wrestlers “By Far”, Getting Praise from Ric Flair for His Promo Work, & His Belief Buddy Matthews Has “A Lot To Offer” in AEW

Baller Alert held a recent interview with Swerve Strickland. One of the topics discussed included Strickland’s thoughts about his belief that AEW pays better than WWE for wrestlers due to the pay structure being “guaranteed” and how AEW CEO Tony Khan handles contract negotiations with wrestlers better since he treats them like athletes.

“AEW by far. By far. Cause, cause it’s guaranteed, and they got their select few up top that like top, top, top. Like they’re just like untouchables. But a lot of those guys are starting to retire now so that’s starting to like- Cena just retired. AJ Styles just retired. Those are like the top top earners, like Taker can’t go no more So that pyramid is starting to really get really pointy and small at the top. So up here is like, because if I could compare the two, like Tony Khan owns AEW. He’s also a part owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Fulham soccer team in the UK. He treats the roster like talent, like not talent, but like athletes. You know, there’s player coaches, there’s organization, there’s system coaches. He’s a player’s booker. He’s in tune with his talent and his roster and where to put those guys and like, he utilizes us very well, and it’s like a scheme on a football team. So me and him gel very, very, very, very well because he knows my strengths. He knows where I belong. He knows how to utilize all his players in the right way. So, therefore, he knows how to pay them too and motivate them in certain ways. He’s- especially we’re only in year seven of the company. which is a very small, very, very small window and short time of being in a wrestling promotion as big as we are. We did 80,000 seats in Wembley Stadium and we filled it. ”

Strickland also gave his thoughts about WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair praising his promo skills backstage following a live promo he performed at an AEW show.

“I will say, after I came back from a promo at AEW, I did it live in the ring and stuff. I came to the back. He was the first one. He was like, ‘that’s how you rip the mic, brother.’ I was like, yo, from Ric? That’s like the highest praise you can get. That’s the highest praise you can get from one of the best to ever do it.”

In a separate recent interview with the Battleground Podcast, Strickland also gave his praise of Buddy Matthews for his work in AEW and him looking forward to Matthews making his return from ankle injury and have a potential match with him.

“Honestly, I’m waiting for probably one of the best talents, like, all around in the business to come back. Hopefully he’s healthy and hopefully he can do even better than what he was giving before — Buddy Matthews, shout out to him.

He’s one of those guys that’s just like a dawg in the ring. I think me and him could do some great work, and I look forward to seeing him back doing his own thing. I think he has a lot to offer in the wrestling world, and I would like to see him back healthy again.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2, F4WOnline.com