Whose house? Swerve's house!
Shane “Swerve” Strickland (real name Stephon Strickland, born September 30, 1990) is an American professional wrestler from Tacoma, Washington.
While serving the United States military, Swerve decided to train to become a professional wrestler. He would begin training in 2008, pursuing his wrestling career while remaining active in military service. He would continue to appear in promotions such as the National Wrestling Alliance, Combat Zone Wrestling, EVOLVE, Lucha Underground, and MLW.
In 2019, Swerve would sign to WWE as a part of NXT under the name Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. In 2021, he would be drafted to Smackdown briefly before being released on November 18, 2021. On March 6, 2022, it was revealed that Swerve had signed with All Elite Wrestling during the Revolution 2022 PPV.
In WWE he was known for forming the stable Hit Row, alongside Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, and B-Fab, as well as being a one time NXT North American Champion. Due to his signing to AEW, Swerve would not appear with the group during reunions on the independent scene, and the group would later reform in WWE without him. In AEW he was part of the tag team Swerve in Our Glory with Keith Lee, and the two are one time AEW Tag Team Champions. After betraying Keith Lee, Swerve would briefly form a new stable, the Mogul Affiliates, with Parker Boudreaux and Trench (with association by rapper Rick Ross), and then merge with Prince Nana, Brian Cage, and the Gates of Agony to create the Mogul Embassy.
Whose Tropes? Swerve’s Tropes!
- Advertised Extra: In the 2018 WarGames match, he got taken out of the match by Sami Callihan during his entrance. His team still won though.
- Alliterative Name: Shane "Swerve" Strickland. His real name, Stephon Strickland, counts as well.
- Arch-Enemy:
- Had a long-running feud in 2020 with Santos Escobar over the Cruiserweight Championship and Leon Ruff after his Face–Heel Turn. After winning the North American Championship, his feud with Santos reignited as Hit Row and Legado del Fantasma squared off.
- As part of Swerve in Our Glory, he and Keith Lee would become bitter enemies to Team Taz’s Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs, who felt that SIOG was stealing attention and time that they deserved.
- After Team Taz, Swerve would become more antagonistic when faced up against The Acclaimed. After failing to win the tag team championships from SIOG, Swerve would continue to mock and antagonize The Acclaimed, viewing them as jokes that would never win the titles. After they won the titles during their rematch, Swerve would continue to taunt the group, pointing out that Daddy Ass helped them, and would even kidnap and injure Daddy Ass just to get to the Acclaimed.
- As Killshot, his main enemies were Marty "The Moth" Martinez (for stealing his dog tags) and Dante Fox (who believed Killshot intentionally left him behind), with The Mack and Son of Havoc joining the list in Season 4.
- Due to their history in Defy Wrestling and the Pacific Northwest, Darby Allin and Swerve have a "fight forever" feeling to their matches. Neither one seems to be able to pull ahead of the other, and in battle royales, they always include a spot of attacking each other as soon as possible.
- In 2023, he enters a feud with Adam Page, making it personal by invading Page's home and placing Prince Nana's shirt inside the crib of Page's infant son. Strickland would go on to beat Page in two straight PPVs, the culminative one being a Texas Death Match at Full Gear.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: The little guy to Keith Lee's in their partnership.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Whose house? Swerve's house!"
- "Say less." Said when he accepts challenges from other wrestlers.
- "Hoodies up," following his 2022 heel turn and formation of Mogul Affiliates.
- Cool Mask: As Killshot in Lucha Underground. Red, white and black with a bullseye on the forehead. Very cool. Switched to a more open black and grey version during Season 3.
- Cool Shades: Rocks a cool pair before his matches.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As Killshot. Disavowed former Sole Survivor (so he thought) of an elite military unit captured on an overseas mission.
- Dark Reprise: Following his 2022 Face–Heel Turn in AEW, his entrance theme took on a slower and more ominous tone.
- Dawn of an Era: Was the first MLW World Champion in the 2017 revival.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: His AEW entrance theme, "Big Pressure," is performed by himself along with guest vocals from Flash Garments.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Him getting weary of being disrespected led to his forming Hit Row. Would later claim to have been disrespected by Keith Lee when he formed the Mogul Affiliates.
- Extremity Extremist: His kicks are a very effective part of his offense.
- Finishing Move: As Killshot, both the Killstomp (which Strickland continued to use post-Lucha Underground and has renamed the Swerve Stomp) and a Storm Cradle Driver sometimes called simply The Killshot and is more commonly known as the JML Driver.
- Heel–Face Turn: Made one on Revolution 2024 where he rejected Prince Nana's idea to cheat in the Triple Threat match and wrestled fairly. He cemented this turn in the March 6th 2024 airing of Dynamite, where he showed regret for his villainous actions of the past, and stated that, after it felt like people were truly rooting for him for the first time, he won't let them down.
- Improbable Weapon User: In LU, Killshot used his own dog tags as impromptu brass knuckles.
- Masked Luchador: In LU. Pretty eye-catching, since African-American wrestlers almost never wrestle with a mask.
- Meaningful Name: As Killshot. "Killshot" was his military nickname, referring to his status as a deadly sniper.
- Memento Macguffin: Killshot's dog tags.
- Military Brat: Spent his early years in Germany, the son of a military man and he himself served in the military while sneaking in pro wrestling training during his downtime. He later incorporated this into Killshot's (and by extension, Dante Fox's) character history.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Subverted. His nickname "Swerve" isn't considered his full ring name, although that's what most call him for simplicity's sake.
- Power Stable:
- In WWE, he would initially form Hit Row with Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis and B-Fab. Due to signing with AEW, the group would return to WWE without him following every member being released.
- In AEW, he would form the Mogul Affiliates with Parker Boudreaux and Trench after betraying Keith Lee. He would later add Prince Nana, Brian Cage, and The Gates of Agony after acquiring the faction "The Embassy," rebranding it as "The Mogul Embassy."
- Red Baron: "Swerve".
- Killshot went by "The Weapon of Mass Destruction".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tried to pull this off after his rematch with Low Ki, but he was "contractly obligated" to appear at the December 13, 2018 MLW event, Never Say Never against Rush, who defeated him and then he left.
- The Bus Came Back: In 2022 for a MLW World Middleweight Championship bout against Myron Reed, while representing AEW.
- Sole Survivor: Killshot was this for his military unit. Or so he thought, until the introduction of Dante Fox.
- Survivor Guilt: Killshot showed a huge case of it, as he was still waiting for the rest of his unit to come home. Come Season 3, he got his wish, at least in regards to Dante Fox. He later revealed that his masked identity was another huge case of it, as he was ashamed of himself for leaving his unit behind.
- Terrible Trio: Along with Big Ryck and The Mack. He was the high-flying speedster of the team.
- Token Evil Teammate: Acted as this during his time in Swerve in Our Glory, acting sneaky and untrustworthy and doing everything in his power to win, in stark contrast to Keith Lee’s babyface persona.
- Took a Level in Jerkass:
- Noticeably underwent a personality change in late 2020, becoming more selfish, arrogant, and also with a considerably shorter fuse.
- Subverted in AEW, where he is presented as a clearly selfish man posing as a good-natured person from the very start. From using Keith Lee to get what he wanted to his poor treatment of the Acclaimed, it was only a matter of time before he would begin to start properly acting as a heel.
- Tweener: Was thus upon first coming into the Temple, as he had no beef with anyone, but wasn't allied with anyone beyond his teammates. He's also been shown to be respectful of other competitors, though, as evidenced when he shook hands with Fenix before their bout. After the Trios tournament, he quickly targeted King Cuerno, so it might've been a sign that he was going to be a face. Since then, he's mainly targeted rudos.
- Face–Heel Turn: Pretty much stopped giving a damn in Season 4, turning on perennial favorites Son of Havoc and The Mack as a result.
- Tournament Arc: Debuted for the WWE in the 2019 NXT Breakout Tournament.
- Un-person: According to Killshot, the United States government has said that he and the rest of his unit never existed. Season 4's reveal that Dante Fox was still in the service at that time threw that into doubt.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: In contrast to his goofy, Butt-Monkey manager, Prince Nana, Swerve is a brutal sadist who takes pleasure in brutalizing his enemies, in-ring and out.
- Worked Shoot: His rant after his rematch with Low Ki. He grabbed a microphone and mouthing off towards MLW management turning heel in the process. He mentions owner Court Bauer and blames management for his bad luck. He ends the promo with "As of right now, I am terminating my contract and I'm—" only for his microphone to cut off. He then proceeded to throw trash at the MLW employees that were confronting him, he flips off one of them and hops the rail into the audience and leaves.
- Would Hit a Girl: Obviously you have to if you're facing Sexy Star... but Killshot crossed the line by actually chopping her in the chest. Even a random guy in the crowd exclaimed "That ain't right!" when it happened.
