Former WWE Superstar signs with AEW at the Revolution pay-per-view

Former WWE star Shane Strickland made his AEW debut at Revolution, appearing on-stage to sign a contract with the promotion. The former NXT North American Champion was welcomed by Tony Schiavone, who had called matches during Strickland's time in MLW prior to WWE.

Swerve would make his AEW intentions clear and concise by announcing the dream matches he wanted to wrestle and the championships he wanted to get as the crowd continued to cheer his name.

Strickland is yet another AEW import to come from Stamford, Connecticut. He reigned as the North American Champion during the black and gold era of NXT, leading the Hit Row Records stable.

Swerve and Hit Row made their way to SmackDown in last year's draft, only to briefly feud with Jinder Mahal and Shanky before being released. Although this is his first appearance in All Elite Wrestling, Strickland has wrestled post-WWE against Jay White in NJPW, Cara Noir for the Progress Championship, and Davey Richards at TERMINUS II.

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New AEW star Shane Strickland was released just over a month from being a champion in WWE

Shane Strickland comes with considerable hype, having been linked with the promotion almost immediately after departing WWE. That can be easily explained by the fact that just last year, Swerve was the reigning NXT and North American Champion.

In fact, Swerve only lost his title to Carmelo Hayes in his penultimate match with the company, with his release coming just over a month removed from being champion.

It seemed as though he was due a push on SmackDown as Hit Row were drafted and treated as a big deal, only for their progress to come to a screeching halt when all members found themselves on the wrong side of budget cuts.

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