Swerve Strickland says bulking up for AEW return was an ‘evolution’
Swerve Strickland discussed bulking up for his return to the ring late last year in a recent interview.
Strickland was out of action from Forbidden Door on August 24, 2025 until the December 10 Winter Is Coming episode of Dynamite. He said he had bulked up to 240 pounds by the time he returned.
During a recent interview with Rich Latta, Strickland was asked when the last time he blew up in the ring was. He responded that it happened when he first returned after putting on the weight.
Strickland said:
“When I came back at 240. I was like, ‘Oh, everything is just like harder to do.'”
“Getting up and getting down. It’s like that exhausts you way more than when you’re agile.”
Asked what he weighs now, Strickland responded:
“This is like 232, 233. That’s a good weight of still agile. I don’t get blown up. I still look physically imposing. And that’s mainly why I bulked up. I just wanted to look like an evolution of Swerve again.”
“I’ve evolved like three times a year. So everything’s another evolution to something. And going to the extreme lengths of expanding the body is another evolution of it.”
Up next for Strickland is a match against Brody King at AEW Revolution on Sunday, March 15. Strickland wrestled Gravity on Saturday’s edition of AEW Collision in Tucson. Gravity is the brother of Bandido, who is King’s tag team partner.
The full interview with Swerve Strickland is available below. The video is queued to his comments about bulking up before his AEW return last December.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.