When Swerve Strickland returned at the end of AEW Full Gear to confront new AEW World Champion Samoa Joe, he did so with two key differences to his presentation. First, Strickland debuted a new, muscled up look. More noticeable was that Strickland had done away with his old theme song, “Big Pressure,” in favor of a new one, joining the likes of fellow AEW star Kazuchika Okada in changing from his popular theme to another song in 2025.
Now a few weeks later, Strickland is officially rolling the song out for an even wider audience than wrestling fans. On Tuesday via press release, Strickland announced the release of his new theme, called “Hit Different,” across all platforms. Strickland is the primary vocal artist on the hip hop track, which also features his long-time collaborator, Monteasy, and rapper Raekown, best known as a member of legendary hip hop group, Wu-Tang Clan.
“This record is my comeback in music form,” Strickland said in a statement. “It is confidence. It is everything I fought through, including pressure, wins, and the wolves in sheep’s clothing. That is why I call it being ‘Swerveconfident.’ If I am stepping back into that ring, this is the anthem that has to hit first.”
As alluded to by Strickland, the release of “Hit Different” coincides with Strickland’s return to the ring tonight on “AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming.” In his first match since August, Strickland will team with long-time enemy turned temporary rival “Hangman” Adam Page to battle common enemies Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata in a Tornado Tag Team match. It will be the first of two matches for Strickland this week, as he’ll then travel to Cardiff, Wales to face Josh Alexander on “AEW Collision: Winter is Coming” this Saturday.
