"We need this" β AEW star discloses what Edge told him backstage on WWE SmackDown
AEW star Swerve Strickland recently shared details on what WWE Superstar Edge told him when he was with the company.
During his tenure with WWE, Strickland was part of the group Hit Row in NXT, with AJ Francis (Top Dolla), Tehuti Miles (Ashante Adonis) & Brianna Brandy (B-Fab). While with the group, he won the NXT North American Championship against Bronson Reed on the June 29 episode of NXT.
During his appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Swerve said Hit Row got asked to cut an impromptu promo to see how they'd fare on the main roster:
"The first thing was, like, when we did the draft, we were there in Baltimore. We did a dark match and we had AJ [Top Dolla] wrestle Cedric [Alexander]. But before that, we had a two-minute promo live, like all four of us. They just want to see how we interact and stuff like that. They didn't even ask to hear it, they was, like, 'oh no, you got two minutes, do your thing.' Very rare for all four of us? Four people with a microphone?" (from 14:03 to 14:29)
The current AEW star added that Edge heaped some praise on Hit Row after their promo, saying it was fresh and new:
"We just, like, had some lines tucked away so two and a half minutes literally [Swerve created some noises]...and then we wrapped it up and then they had the match and everything. Edge was one of the first few to greet us in the back, like, 'We need this product, we need this on this brand. You know, this is a great content that we need. It's young, it's hip,' and then we're, like, 'Oh cool.'" (from 14:37 to 15:04)
WWE Draft, round three: Hit Row is coming to SmackDown cagesideseats.com/wwe/2021/10/1/β¦ https://t.co/gMhMgHPDui
Hit Row got drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2021 WWE Draft in Round 3 on October 1.
AEW star Swerve Strickland and Hit Row members got released from WWE
A month after the draft, Hit Row members were let go by WWE, starting with Brandy on November 4, 2021. Strickland, Francis, and Miles got the ax on November 15, 2021.
After being released, Swerve made his AEW debut at Revolution 2022. Meanwhile, Francis, Miles, and Brandy last appeared on Game Changer Wrestling's For the Culture 2022 as HitMakerZ.
All of hit row are no longer in WWE. https://t.co/3IJl9eokAe
Strickland is currently in a rivalry with Team Taz (Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs) while teaming up with Keith Lee in AEW. Meanwhile, The HitMaker has no scheduled appearances at this point.
What are your thoughts on Edge's praise of Swerve Strickland and Hit Row? Sound off in the comments section below!
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the Talk Is Jericho podcast and H/T Sportskeeda Wrestling.