Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott On How Hit Row Came About In WWE NXT, Triple H Approaching Him With Idea

In a recent interview on After the Bell with Corey Graves, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott discussed how Hit Row came together in NXT, Triple H approaching him with the idea, and much more. You can read highlights from Isaiah Scott below.

Isaiah “Swerve” Scott on how the Hit Row faction came about in NXT: “The way it came about was very simple. It wasn’t like a very long constructed idea. There was Top Dolla – he was AJ Francis at the time – and Ashante Adonis and B-FAB, and they were forming something called the Hit Makers as their own trios group. They were together about eight months just doing a lot of in-house shows and it was a project that they were feeling out. Ashante was still doing 205 Live and other things. AJ Francis was going off to do WWE Treasures as well. So scheduling-wise, it was hard to get them all to come together at the same time. I was transitioning from the cruiserweight division and going into my own thing. So I was kind of trying to do something different and unique myself. I was kind of done with my look and a lot of where my mannerisms were going and trying to do a transition as well. I don’t think the volume was turned up high enough, so I was like let me really really dive into it, if I want to commit to something I really want to dive into it all the way and go into a different way that nobody else looks like, not just in the WWE Universe, but anywhere in wrestling. Like this guy is doing something completely unique.”

On Triple H approaching him with the idea: “After one of the NXT TV shows, Triple H approached me with the Hit Makers idea and he said he wanted to put them together and there’s a lot that they can learn from me – 12 years of wrestling experience and then they can bring a different flavor and add a lot of muscle and impact to where I was transitioning. We all just happened to be music artists, so it was like wow, how often do you get musicians that compete at a high level in the ring together at one time? AJ, before he came to WWE, he was doing a faction called The Row out on the independents. It was pretty cool, a Death Row spinoff type thing. We were like what if we took that hard, grittiness, in your face, a little rugged and unscripted filter and brought it here? We just formed it together and started throwing ideas. Everybody was agreeing which is very rare…..next thing you know we did that one promo and debuted on NXT that night.”

On AJ Francis’s impact on the group: “That man is unapologetic and unafraid. I love that. That’s the heartbeat of the group right there. The fact that he says what’s on his mind. When he gets to TV, he already has stuff on his mind that he’s going to say. He has that energy. He’s not afraid to jump in front when the red light comes on, he’s a performer. That’s the thing I love about everybody in the group, everybody is a performer in every aspect of it. Music, acting, camera work, even in the pro wrestling thing, they are not afraid to jump in front and say ‘Look at me.’ That’s what you want. You want everybody when it’s their time, they jump in and are like ‘Look at me, watch me work.’ They want to be heard, they want to be seen, they want the pressure on them. It’s very rare to find four people that can do that and AJ is like the one that wants to be the loudest, the most obnoxious, wants to say something that makes everybody gasp, rap a bar that makes people want to go back and listen to it over and over again…..there’s a lot of stuff I’ve learned from him too.”

On the potential for Hit Row as a faction: “The sky’s the limit. At this point,` we’re shooting for the stars and hoping to hit the moon, man. We’re doing something that’s so unique and different, but right now, anything can happen at this point. It’s hard to set a goal for what we’re trying to do. For me, I’m trying to be the longest-reigning NXT North American Champion in history. I want like that accolade and record to be broken and have my name solidified for a long time. Right now, we’re trying to make the culture proud, really trying to push it forward and try to do something that’s never been done in a time where we’re getting back to fans coming in and getting back to normalcy. I’m trying to change the game. I’m trying to be something that people use myself and Hit Row, ‘OK this is the standard now.’ We’re so used to seeing so many other characters on the screen, now these guys are the standard now. Reaching us is going to be really hard. That’s no slight to the Street Profits, that’s no slight to the New Day because those guys are in another standard, but we’re also carving out our own niche in our own category.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit After the Bell with Corey Graves with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.