Swerve Strickland has no interest in calling himself AEW’s “QB1,” but it’s not because he doesn’t see himself as one of the company’s biggest stars. He just doesn’t believe AEW is built around one person the way he feels WWE traditionally is.
During his appearance on The Radio Big Mack Show, Swerve was asked whether he considers himself AEW’s QB1. He immediately pushed back on the label, arguing that deciding who deserves it is subjective in the first place.
“I don’t like that term. I don’t know, because it gets thrown around a lot about who is and who’s not. And that’s, once again, very subjective.
“First of all, AEW doesn’t really have the QB1 mentality. WWE, for sure, does have that, right? It’s a pyramid. Like, whoever’s at the top is at the top. So you can make the claim for QB1 with them over there.”
Swerve sees AEW differently. Instead of having one wrestler sitting comfortably at the top of the pyramid, he described the company as having a “Fab Five” made up of several names who can move in and out of the biggest stories.
“With AEW, it’s not really like that. We’re more of a Fab Five. We have a Fab Five. That’s why we use pillars or, like, the Dynasty, Hangman and Ospreay. It’s always a multitude of guys, not just on the shoulder of one person.
“And a multitude of girls, you know? It’s more multilayered at the top because it rounds off and it switches between that, and we’re always kind of intertwining our stories.”
That revolving setup is also why Swerve expects AEW’s biggest names to keep crossing paths. He specifically pointed to himself, Will Ospreay and Hangman Page as wrestlers whose stories can keep coming back together without one of them necessarily having to be positioned as the undisputed face of the company.
“It’s always going to get back to me and Will at some point. It’s always going to get back to me and Hangman at some point. Hangman is going to get back to Will at some point, right? We’re always, at some point, going to get a triple threat, you know what I mean? So we don’t have QB1. We have a Fab Five.”
So if anyone is waiting for Swerve to plant his flag and declare himself the one guy carrying AEW, they probably shouldn’t hold their breath. He clearly sees himself in that top group, but in his mind, AEW works better with several major players constantly rotating through each other’s stories rather than everybody chasing one person at the top.
Do you agree with Swerve Strickland that AEW has a “Fab Five” rather than one clear QB1? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
