Swerve Strickland recently reflected on the creation of the Hit Row faction during his time in WWE.
Speaking on the Kings of the Ring podcast, Strickland discussed how the group originally came together while WWE was developing new creative directions for the WWE NXT brand.
Strickland explained that the concept was initially tied to plans surrounding the revival of EVOLVE Wrestling, which at the time was expected to be integrated into WWE’s developmental system.
“The birth of it was really interesting because they had their own thing going on when they were supposed to have WWE Evolve then,” Strickland said. “That got delayed for years. I didn’t expect it to take so long for Evolve to become a thing that was on Tubi.”
He recalled that during this time he was actively pitching creative ideas, though communication with Triple H was sometimes difficult.
“Me and him were just going back and forth. He was dodging me when I was coming up with creative questions and stuff,” Strickland said.
According to Strickland, encouragement from Stephanie McMahon played a key role in elevating his position on the show.
“I think it was Stephanie McMahon that really told me, ‘He’s my favorite heel on the show.’ And then that’s where it was like, okay, now we really got to start putting some fire behind Swerve.”
Soon afterward, WWE creative proposed placing a faction behind him.
“They were like, ‘Hey, I think we’re going to put this group behind you. How do you feel?’”
Strickland admitted that leading a faction was unfamiliar territory for him at the time, as he had spent much of his career working independently across different promotions.
“I didn’t do groups at the time. I was independent, indie jumping from city to city, country to country. So running a group was just not my thing.”
However, he said the dynamic eventually worked because the group operated as a collective rather than simply backing him as a leader.
“But the group became more like them backing me. We became like a jelled group, like all four corners.”
While Strickland looks back on the run positively, he admitted he wished the faction had lasted longer.
“The time was good. It was fine. I wish we had more time together with it, but you know, things happen.”
Hit Row originally featured Strickland alongside Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, and B-Fab, becoming one of the most distinctive acts during the Black-and-Gold era of NXT.
