For the past decade, Shane “Swerve” Strickland has traveled the globe in his attempt to be one of the best professional wrestlers in the world. Strickland is now signed with All Elite Wrestling where he will continue to show off his skills inside the squared circle.

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Strickland, who some wrestling fans may know as Isaiah Scott from WWE, is well on his way to being a big-time player in AEW. The stars appear to be aligning for one of AEW’s newest competitors. His time in the indies and in major promotions across the U.S has helped make Strickland elite, and it is now time for him to show it.

10 He Spent Time In The Army

Shane Swerve Strickland AEW

Prior to becoming a professional wrestler, Strickland spent time serving in the United States Army. While in the army, Strickland began training to be a professional wrestler.

Strickland served in the Northeast of the United States. He worked as a signal communications specialist. While serving, Strickland was limited in the amount of wrestling he could do. His time in the U.S Army Reserves also hindered his option on where he could travel to wrestle. As a result, Strickland was limited to promotions in the Northeast. However, the Northeast is home to one of the most well-known independent promotions in the country.

9 CZW

Shane Strickland CZW

Strickland began making a name for himself on the independent wrestling scene when he joined Combat Zone Wrestling in 2012.

During his first run in CZW, Strickland wrestled notable names such as Samurai del Sol (Kalisto in WWE), Uhaa Nation (Apollo Crews in WWE), AR Fox, and Rich Swann. Among his biggest accomplishments was winning the CZW Wired TV Title in 2014. In 2017, Strickland returned to CZW and won their world title. Ironically, Strickland lost both titles to Joe Gacy, who is currently in NXT.

8 His Time In Germany

Shane Strickland wXw

Serving in the U.S Army runs in Strickland’s family. His father served in the army. At two months old, Strickland’s family moved to an army base in Germany. This is where “Swerve” would spend the first seven years of his life.

In 2016, Strickland returned to Germany where he would regularly wrestle for the independent wrestling promotion wXw. Here, Strickland wrestled some of the best European wrestlers in the world including WALTER, Ilja Dragunov, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Zack Sabre Jr., and Will Ospreay.

7 Ain’t Nobody

Isaiah Swerve Scott

During his time on the independent wrestling scene, Strickland had one of the most unique personas of any wrestler despite the promotion he was working for.

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Everyone in the audience immediately knew who was coming out when the song Ain’t Nobody by Chaka Khan began playing on the loudspeaker. When the song would begin, “Swerve” would be the epitome of cool. He would slowly walk to ring until the course of the song would begin. By the time Khan would sing the words "Ain’t Nobody,” the audience would be on their feet singing the song in anticipation for Strickland’s upcoming match.

6 Lucha Underground

Shane Swerve Strickland Killshot

In 2015, Strickland got his first taste of wrestling in front of a television audience. Under a mask, Strickland wrestled as Killshot in Lucha Underground, which as a weekly lucha libre wrestling program than ran for four seasons.

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To fit the dark and gritty theme of Lucha Underground, Strickland had to abandon his Swerve character and become something different. Strickland adopted a character based on his time in the army. His character, Killshot, was a veteran who wanted to get revenge on a wrestler, who he happened to serve in the army with. This wrestler was Dante Fox, who was played by longtime independent wrestling AR Fox.

5 Hell Of War

Swerve Strickland Hell of War

His Lucha Underground feud with Fox led to one of the most brutal matches ever to take place on television. Each season of Lucha Underground ended with a major event called Ultima Lucha. The third season ended with a match called “Hell of War.” This brutal hardcore match featured barbwire, thumbtacks, broken glass, and much more. The “Hell of War” match was similar to WWE’s “Three Stages of Hell,” where the match consisted of three separate matches.

The first fall was a first blood match, the second match was a no disqualification match, and the third match, which they had to do because each person won a fall, was a “Medical Evac” match. The third fall is similar to an ambulance match, where in order to win, you must put your opponent in the ambulance. Ultimately, Killshot won the match and proved to everyone that Strickland was a wrestler to watch out for.

4 MLW

Shane Strickland MLW

After leaving Lucha Underground during season four, Strickland wrestled for Major League Wrestling. In 2017, Strickland won his MLW debut by defeating current WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet.

During his time in MLW, “Swerve” wrestled many wrestlers who would go on to prove that they are among the best in the world as well including Darby Allin, Pentagon Jr., Rush, and Brody King. Strickland defeated current WWE Raw Tag Team Champion Riddle to win the MLW world title. He would later lose this title to Low Ki.

3 Evolve

Shane Strickland Evolve

Strickland continued to travel around the US while wrestling to the Evolve promotion. During his time in Evolve, Strickland proved that he has what it takes to be a main event superstar.

In his time there, Strickland had an intense, main event, rivalry against Matt Riddle. “Swerve” showed a new side of himself, similar to what we saw from Killshot in Lucha Underground. In 2018, Strickland would go on to win the Evolve Title from Riddle and proved that he could handle being at the top of a promotion.

2 NXT North American Champion

Swerve North American Champion

In 2019, Strickland signed with the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, WWE. That same year he debuted as part of the NXT brand under the name Isaiah “Swerve” Scott.

To start his run in NXT, Strickland competed in the cruiserweight division where he most notably feuded with Santos Escobar. In 2021, Strickland turned heel by attacking former NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff. “Swerve” went on to win the North American title himself after defeating Bronson Reed. He went on to hold the title for 105 days and lost the championship to Carmelo Hayes.

1 Hit Row

Hit Row NXT

Towards the end of his NXT tenure, Strickland became the leader of his own group, Hit Row. The stable, where each person was also a rapper and performed their own theme song, included Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, and B-FAB.

Hit Row quickly became one of the most entertaining groups in NXT. The group was quickly called up to the main roster and joined the SmackDown brand after the 2021 draft. However, Hit Row did not receive much of an opportunity to shine. After just one match on television, all four members of the stable were released in November.