Swerve Strickland joins The New Level following AEW Trios Championship win

Swerve Strickland opens up about the process, both backstage and on-screen, of bringing Austin Creed and Kofi into AEW as his new allies.

Austin Creed has praised his most recent opponents, The Rascalz, following The New Level's clash with them on this past week's AEW Dynamite.

The New Level, Kofi and Austin Creed, alongside Swerve Strickland, defeated The Rascalz to defend their AEW World Trios Championships on "AEW Dynamite."

When rumors and speculation were rampant about New Day potentially debuting in AEW as Swerve Strickland’s mystery team at All In, some folks were skeptical because it didn’t seem like a good fit given Swerve’s status as a heel. Others were bothered by the idea of Big E being replaced by anybody at all. Kofi and Austin Creed did indeed arrive in AEW as The New Level, and they are already the world trios champions, along with Strickland as their third guy. Even though New Level’s AEW debut was very well-received by most viewers, Swerve wants the critics to know that he isn’t trying to replace Big E. In a new interview with Black Couch Booking, here is how Swerve explained his AEW partnership with Kofi and Creed. “It’s something you didn’t know it’s what you wanted, but now that you see it, it’s like, how did we not see this? …Shout-out to Big E. I can never replace a Big E. But we can do something new that moves forward, instead of looking backwards. And that’s why New Level…all these things just hit at the right time, in the right place, with the right people to put a shockwave into the energy of the wrestling world, all at one encapsulating time. And I was like, that’s the only way I could do something like that. These are the guys to do it with.” Do you think it’s a little strange to see the former New Day in AEW with a third man who isn’t Big E? Is Swerve in it for the long haul as Kofi and Austin Creed’s partner, or is it just a matter of time until he either turns on them or goes his own way? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.

Swerve Strickland has spoken in glowing terms about his new AEW teammates, Kofi and Austin Creed, and explained how they have inspired him.