The following are highlights of a new This Is Infamous interview with Jack Swagger:
Being a veteran and passing off wisdom to newer talents: "Well, I don’t know if I would go so far as to call myself a veteran of the locker room… But I have had the honor of privilege of working with guys like Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Triple H… A lot of guys that don’t compete anymore, so a lot of guys coming up now aren’t going to have that knowledge or experience of someone who grew up in a different generation and had that old-school mentality and was able to pass it along to guys like me or Dolph Ziggler. It’s something that’s very special and can’t be overlooked, because it really is like… Triple-H and Undertaker, when they wrestled at WrestleMania, they’re the last of their generation, you know? And no one else is going to have that now, coming up. So it is important to try and pass along certain issues that you can help guys with. Me, I’m a very giving guy, and I always want to help and I always want to learn something, so I just try and pass along my hunger to those guys. I’m like, “Look, either you want this, and this is going to be how it is and you’re going to eat, sleep and breathe this, or you’re not going to make it.” I think that’s one of the most important things. You just gotta stay hungry."
Why he thinks the USA vs. Russia storylines with Rusev have been working: "I think it’s a couple of things, why it turned out so well and why it hit home. One is that Rusev is this big immovable force. Amazing competitor. And Lana… She cuts these very anti-American promos, very believable, and if there’s one thing that Americans can agree on, it’s pride for their country. We can be torn a million different ways about issues that are going on, but then when you start talking about our country, one thing about real Americans… You can push us, and push us, and knock us down, but when the times get tough, we’re gonna unite, and we’re gonna stand up together and we’re gonna get stronger. And I think it’s along those lines. This is a very topical issue now, with the world and certain things that are going on, certain factions outside of our country, have all added to the storyline and just made it that much more passionate and that much more heartfelt. You look at the World Cup and how big soccer has become in America since then, I mean everybody was so proud of those boys down there, going out there and just playing their hearts out, and just wanted them to do well. If you give an American a chance to stand up and say “USA,” he’s gonna stand up and he’s gonna scream “USA.” It’s one of the most beautiful things about our country. We love it, and we’re gonna fight for it."
Would he like to have seen more done in the aftermath of breaking up with Cesaro:"Absolutely. Antonio Cesaro and I… I always say that we’re the greatest tag team not to win a championship. There was something very special between us with the way we competed and the way we set off each other, and the way it went down definitely wasn’t the way I would have liked it to. But at the same time, the door is always open, so I feel like there was so much interest there that we could go back to that at any time."
Being a veteran and passing off wisdom to newer talents: "Well, I don’t know if I would go so far as to call myself a veteran of the locker room… But I have had the honor of privilege of working with guys like Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Triple H… A lot of guys that don’t compete anymore, so a lot of guys coming up now aren’t going to have that knowledge or experience of someone who grew up in a different generation and had that old-school mentality and was able to pass it along to guys like me or Dolph Ziggler. It’s something that’s very special and can’t be overlooked, because it really is like… Triple-H and Undertaker, when they wrestled at WrestleMania, they’re the last of their generation, you know? And no one else is going to have that now, coming up. So it is important to try and pass along certain issues that you can help guys with. Me, I’m a very giving guy, and I always want to help and I always want to learn something, so I just try and pass along my hunger to those guys. I’m like, “Look, either you want this, and this is going to be how it is and you’re going to eat, sleep and breathe this, or you’re not going to make it.” I think that’s one of the most important things. You just gotta stay hungry."
Why he thinks the USA vs. Russia storylines with Rusev have been working: "I think it’s a couple of things, why it turned out so well and why it hit home. One is that Rusev is this big immovable force. Amazing competitor. And Lana… She cuts these very anti-American promos, very believable, and if there’s one thing that Americans can agree on, it’s pride for their country. We can be torn a million different ways about issues that are going on, but then when you start talking about our country, one thing about real Americans… You can push us, and push us, and knock us down, but when the times get tough, we’re gonna unite, and we’re gonna stand up together and we’re gonna get stronger. And I think it’s along those lines. This is a very topical issue now, with the world and certain things that are going on, certain factions outside of our country, have all added to the storyline and just made it that much more passionate and that much more heartfelt. You look at the World Cup and how big soccer has become in America since then, I mean everybody was so proud of those boys down there, going out there and just playing their hearts out, and just wanted them to do well. If you give an American a chance to stand up and say “USA,” he’s gonna stand up and he’s gonna scream “USA.” It’s one of the most beautiful things about our country. We love it, and we’re gonna fight for it."
Would he like to have seen more done in the aftermath of breaking up with Cesaro:"Absolutely. Antonio Cesaro and I… I always say that we’re the greatest tag team not to win a championship. There was something very special between us with the way we competed and the way we set off each other, and the way it went down definitely wasn’t the way I would have liked it to. But at the same time, the door is always open, so I feel like there was so much interest there that we could go back to that at any time."
