Sw3rve The Realest On Why He Thinks WWE Released Hit Row

Of the many reasons Sw3rve The Realest (fka Isaiah "Swerve" Scott) believes that his and Hit Row's WWE run was short-lived, one prominent one is the fact that WWE already had two other stables on Smackdown, the brand Hit Row was drafted to, in the form of the New Day and the Bloodline.

In an appearance at a K&S WrestleFest virtual signing, Sw3rve compared the three teams being on the same brand to a football team having three quarterbacks, thus meaning one of the QBs had to go.

"It's almost kind of like, we went to a product that already had New Day and Usos and stuff like that," Sw3rve said. "So you can't have three starting quarterbacks, in their mind, you know? You already have your franchise quarterback but you also drafted, you have two backup quarterbacks that are first-rounders. So it's like, we've got to trade him off to, you know, Tennessee. We can send them another team that needs a quarterback because there's already three starting quarterbacks there."

One thing that saddens Sw3rve about Hit Row being released from WWE is that it ended a great opportunity for his stablemates, most notably Ashante "Thee" Adonis. Ultimately, if it could've been a situation where Sw3rve The Realest was the only one released, while Ashante, B-Fab, and Top Dolla stayed employed with WWE, he would've gladly sacrificed himself.

"If it was the case of just like, myself getting released, and they were there, I'd still feel better about that because I know I can go anywhere and be pretty okay. Like, do my own thing," Sw3rve said. "I just felt bad for my team, and I'm always going to feel like that. You know what I mean? For Ashante, the most, because that's all he ever wanted to be, a WWE wrestler. Like he went through a lot, you know? With like his military life and he told that story on The Bump episode we were on.

"Talking about being bombed over there and being overseas and getting shot at and getting concussions from bombs going off and going through true wartime and getting that trauma. So all he ever wanted to do when he came back was like, push hard and be in the WWE. So that's where my heart went to, him primarily and our group. So if I could sacrifice myself being released for them to just stay there and do their thing, then I would."

Later Sw3rve The Realest was asked who he was closest with during his time in NXT in regards to coaches and other talents. He named two top trainers in WWE NXT and RAW superstar Edge, who Sw3rve says congratulated him after Hit Row was called up to the main roster.

"Out of everybody that I was close with there, I would say Terry Taylor and Shawn Michaels were my closest," Sw3rve said. "And Edge. Yeah, Edge was like, my guy. Like he gave me a big hug when we got drafted."

To quote this article, please credit K&S WrestleFest and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription