Swerve Strickland thinks too many wrestlers are playing it safe now — and he believes that mindset is hurting creativity across the industry.
While speaking on the Cruz Show, Swerve explained that real growth in wrestling comes from taking risks, embarrassing yourself sometimes, and being willing to fail publicly instead of constantly worrying about online reactions. According to Strickland, modern wrestling culture has become overly cautious because people are too focused on protecting themselves from criticism and failure.
“I think you have to be daring. Dare—dare to take that chance. Not too many people want to take chances, man, which is crazy. You’ve got to worry about what everybody thinks, bro. You’ve got to take that chance. Everybody wants a safety net now, and I’m like, no. You only learn to fly without help.”
Swerve then compared that mentality to learning how to swim, explaining that sometimes people only improve when they are thrown directly into uncomfortable situations.
“You learn how to swim by getting thrown in, too. But we like the training wheels a lot in this era now. And it’s like—just go do it. Like, ‘But what if I fail?’ What’s the worst that’s going to happen?”
He also argued that people have become too afraid of humiliation, memes, and online criticism — even though the most successful people in the world deal with those same things constantly.
“What if somebody makes fun of me or makes a meme out of me? I’m like, LeBron James gets memed every day. Jay-Z gets memed every day. The most successful people are getting made fun of.”
Swerve even joked that internet culture has become so extreme that literally nobody is immune from mockery anymore. At the center of the conversation was Strickland’s belief that people need to rediscover humility and stop treating failure like the end of the world.
“There’s memes about everybody. There’s memes about God, bro. I saw something recently that said humility is an emotion that we need to feel again.”
The former AEW World Champion then explained that even if somebody takes a risk and fails, life usually goes on much more easily than people imagine.
“What’s the worst that can happen? You fail and you’re right back to where you are now. In a nice house, you’ve got shelves full of sneakers, and you’re going to eat today.”
So, Swerve Strickland believes too many wrestlers and creators today are playing things safe because they fear failure or online ridicule — and according to him, taking risks, failing publicly, and learning from it is the only real way to grow.
Do you think Swerve Strickland is right about modern wrestling becoming too “safe,” or is the business simply evolving with the social media era? Leave your thoughts and feedback below.
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