Swerve Strickland reflects on Rick Ross' AEW debut.
Ross appeared on the November 2 episode of AEW Dynamite, where he tried to get Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee back on the same page when the duo were on the road to their eventual split. He returned on the December 21 episode of AEW Dynamite and aligned with Strickland as Swerve's new stable, Mogul Affiliates, debuted and attacked Lee.
Speaking on Say Less With Kaz, Lowkey and Rosy, Strickland looked back with Ross' memorable promo on the November 2 episode and the way Ross brought up "false accusations". When asked whether the line was planned, Strickland noted that it wasn't, and they filmed the segment in one take.
“No. First off, we filmed it one time, it was one shot, and I pretty much broke down the synopsis. I’m like alright, Rick, so this is what happened. Me and my partner, we broke up…' We didn’t break up at the time, 'So he’s gonna come in and accuse me of some shit, and you just kind of try and bring us together.’ He’s like, ‘It’s nothing, it’s easy. It’s nothing, bro.’ He’s like, ‘Too easy, let’s go," Strickland said.
Strickland then recalled the promo and the way Ross contributed when he and Lee had to set up a six-man tag team match. He noted that Ross didn't know all of the names of the wrestlers, so he took the lead while Ross still chimed in as only he could.
“Keith comes in, he’s like, ‘Yo, Ross.’ He’s like, ‘Yo, what’s up big Keith?’ In the middle, we was like, ‘Can you promote [that] there’s gonna be a six-man tag match next week?’ He’s like, ‘How about Swerve, you do it?’ Ross doesn’t know all the names. I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ So I start naming the names, like, ‘It’s me and him,’ and Ross goes, ‘Ha-ha, six-man tag, yeah’ [laughs] in the middle of it. I’m like, ‘Uh-huh," Strickland said.
Swerve then described how Ross was ad-libbing the whole time, and he recalled the way Ross offered him and Lee a drink because he wanted to take the negativity out of the situation. He joked that it was hard to know where to jump in and do what he had to do in order to set up the six-man tag team match and further the storyline.
“There’s a part where Keith, he’s like, ‘You haven’t answered my phone calls. What’s up with you, man? What’s going on? I ain’t heard from you in a week.’ Ross is like, ‘Hey, this is not the time for no negativity. We staying positive. Matter of fact, here. You get a drink, you get a drink. Hey, Tony, with the microphone, you get one, too. Let’s toast it up. Boss time.’ He’s just ad-libbing the whole time. I’m like, I don’t even know where I jump in,'" Strickland said.
Strickland then revealed that they shot more footage with Ross as he said, "He’s great, he’s hilarious. We show more stuff in the back, we didn’t use all the footage."
Strickland previously discussed Mogul Affiliates and their influence in the culture. Check out his comments here.
Strickland recently appeared in a new Monteasy song. More information is available here.
Check out the card for the March 15 episode of AEW Dynamite here.
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