AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland's one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the world ... and he says he owes a lot of his success to years spent in the United States Army.
Swerve stopped by the TMZ office on Monday for a conversation with Babcock ... where he opened up on everything from becoming the first Black AEW world champ, to how his military service prepared him for life, including wrestling.
"Like two weeks after I graduated high school, I was going to basic training and that got me ready to like do stuff on my own.