Although he recently joined The New Level, Swerve Strickland maintains that he could never take Big E’s place in the faction.
During AEW All In 2026, Kofi and Austin Creed made their unexpected debut as The New Level. They teamed with Strickland to capture the World Trios Championships.
During a recent appearance on Black Coach Booking’s YouTube channel, Strickland discussed his new partnership. He recalled the surprise of learning about their contracts: “Honestly, when I first heard the news, it was a shock to me. I was like, ‘Really?’ It didn’t feel real or believable at the time. It was just floating in the clouds.”
Strickland added that after his Owen Hart Foundation Cup final against Will Ospreay, Tony Khan placed him in the Trios Division, and the addition of The New Level brought a fresh dynamic.
“Coming back from the main event against Ospreay, I needed a momentum shift,” he explained. “Tony Khan knew he wanted me in trios. If I’m going to do this, it has to be new and fresh, featuring guys who haven’t been here before.”
However, despite his own stardom, Strickland acknowledges he cannot replace Big E within the faction, though they can forge a new path forward.
“There aren’t too many guys in the locker room that like me… So it’s like, it can’t be anybody from the locker room. I have to go through outsourcing to get some new teammates. It’s not Big E. And shout out Big E. I can never replace a Big E. But we can do something new that moves forward instead of looking backwards.,” he finished.
The New Level and Strickland recently defended their World Trios titles against The Rascalz on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite.
