How Swerve Strickland went from considering retirement from pro wrestling to headlining AEW All In at Wembley

The AEW world champion makes the most important walk of his professional wrestling career after a journey of highs and lows

Swerve Strickland counts down the days to the longest walk of his career. Strickland stakes his All Elite Wrestling world championship against Bryan Danielson's unrivaled career in front of an estimated 50,000 fans at the legendary Wembley Stadium at All In London. It's another huge milestone from an athlete for whom the industry did not have grand designs.

"It's validating. I've progressed so much more in my career from failure," Strickland told CBS Sports. "That's where I truly made my mark and was challenged. That's where a lot of people saw how truly committed and determined I was to do more."

Strickland, 33, often utilized failure as a launching pad to new heights. The future AEW champ found himself at a crossroads three years into his career. Strickland hadn't made the necessary inroads in Japan to take his career to the next level. He struggled to juggle his dream job, military duties and responsibilities to his family. The fire roared in his belly but his bright career was nearly extinguished. Confronted with an early retirement, Strickland found an unexpected tool to keep the embers alive when Lucha Underground launched in 2014.

The Mexican-American wrestling promotion swapped traditional sports-based wrestling tropes for a creative direction borrowing from action, fantasy, and telenovelas. Strickland was offered a non-televised tryout, which earned him a role as Killshot, a masked military veteran.

"That was probably the biggest turning point," Strickland said. "I had two kids and employment wasn't working out as much. I was working check-to-check. I didn't even have a car. I was borrowing cars, getting on a train to Philadelphia for CZW events, or jumping in carpools. A lot was going on in trying to maintain a successful wrestling career and a job with consistent employment. It was almost impossible."

Strickland is one of AEW's most recent success stories. Strickland, a 13-year professional wrestling veteran, surfed a wave of organic fan support to become the promotion's first Black world champion at AEW Dynasty in April. His crowning achievement corrected the misdeeds of his November 2021 WWE release, a move received poorly by viewers who saw Strickland's potential.

"I feel like I legitimately earned the respect of the fanbase from that," Strickland said. "It got to the point where fans truly wanted to see me in this position and hoped for it. Now it's here. The fans felt rewarded for riding with me and committed to the product and my story arch as Swerve Strickland."

There is money in the chase. A long-held belief in pro wrestling is that a hero's pursuit and acquisition of a title is their story's climax. Their subsequent title reign rarely lives up to that moment. Yet Strickland once again makes history as the first Black world wrestling champion to headline Wembley. Adding to the occasion is the stipulation that Danielson, a beloved wrestler and all-time great, will retire if he loses.

"It's a historic moment and a historic main event. It's our second time at Wembley Stadium," Strickland said. "Last year, I was put in a coffin. This year, I'm putting someone's career to rest. I'm the AEW world champion and the first Black world champion to main event Wembley Stadium in the history of wrestling regardless of company or brand name. I'm just happy I'm doing it with All Elite Wrestling. It means the world to me."