Summary

Swerve Strickland named Shingo Takagi, Shawn Michaels, Edge (Adam Copeland), Rey Mysterio, and Chris Jericho as his five favorite wrestlers of all time.

He praised Takagi as underrated, said learning from Michaels in WWE changed his perspective, and highlighted the broad crossover appeal of several names on his list.

Strickland also pointed to his personal connection with Jericho, noting they worked on music together and that he opened for Jericho's band Fozzy.

Swerve Strickland's list shows the cross-cultural blueprint behind his own style

Swerve Strickland naming wrestlers from different eras and regions reinforces that his influences are built on versatility, and that consequence helps explain why his own presentation blends in-ring intensity with broader crossover elements.

By emphasizing names like Shingo Takagi and Rey Mysterio alongside WWE main-event figures, Strickland also frames his ideal career model as global rather than single-promotion focused.

For related context on his wrestling philosophy, see Swerve discussing wrestling as an art form.

Quotes

Quote from Swerve Strickland

“Man, Shingo Takagi is one of them. He’s very underrated for Japanese culture. He’s incredible. Then I will go, honestly, Shawn Michaels is up there. Learning from him in WWE, that put him on a whole other playing field for me. Edge, Adam Copeland. Phenomenal. Like, incredible. Rey Mysterio. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Incredible, and (Chris) Jericho. Jericho is my guy. Yes, sir. Jericho is my guy. We did music together as well. Got to open up for him and his band Fozzy. You know, those guys are, like, yeah. So, like, all these guys are- well, most of them are very much crossover, cross-cultural guys/talents in a lot of ways, like Jericho music and then acting, same (for) Edge.”

Sources

As reported by Fightful.