Swerve Strickland believes an up-and-coming WWE star is better at 21 than he was at 30.
Approaching his 15th anniversary in the wrestling business, Swerve Strickland has a wealth of experience at all levels of the industry. As well as spending almost a decade on the independent scene, Swerve was part of WWE for three years and has now firmly established himself as a main event star in AEW.
Meanwhile, NXT star Je’Von Evans started out in 2018 when he was only 13 years old, and spent a few years in the indies before signing with WWE in 2023. The star has been turning heads in the company, and on the November 17th edition of Raw, arguably got his biggest opportunity yet, facing Gunther in the first round of ‘The Last Time Is Now’ tournament to determine the final opponent for John Cena.
In a new interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Strickland spoke about people comparing him to the next generation of wrestlers and singled out Evans for praise, though he believes he still has more “intangibles” than the NXT star.
“I’m always in favor of the next guys. Always. Some people, because we do this comparison game, ‘So and so is better than so and so. So and so is better than so and so.’ I’m like, ‘He’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be.’ That’s how evolution works.
“You know, it’s not an insult to say, ‘Je’Von Evans is better than Swerve.’ I’m like, yes, he is. At 21 years old, he is better than I was at 30. I have more intangibles, because I’ve learned those things on the indies. He’s in the [WWE NXT] system now at 21.”
Je’Von Evans Was Inspired By Swerve Strickland
Continuing, Swerve explained that Evans is meant to be better and revealed he told Strickland he has looked to him for inspiration.
“He’s supposed to be better. That’s because — who is he watching? He was watching myself. He’s told me to my face. He’s watched me and Lio Rush and guys like that. And he took it to the next level, which is what we did. You know, like, Ricochet watched the same guys. He watched Rey Mysterio and took it to the next level, because that’s what evolution is supposed to be.
The former AEW Men’s World Champion admitted he can’t wait to see Evans find the intangibles himself.
“Of course [Evans is] better than me. He’s gonna be [terrifyingly good at 30]. Like, he’s gonna be scary in the next three years. You know what I mean? But the point is, it’s like, I have all these other intangibles that just make me me.
“I can’t wait to find the intangibles that he finds that makes Je’Von Je’von. I can’t wait for him to find those things, you know? But, like, is he better in-ring? Hell yeah, no sh*t. He’s taller too.”
Swerve Strickland made his surprise return to AEW at Full Gear, helping Adam Page fight off The Opps at the close of the show.
H/T to F4WOnline for the above transcription.
