The Downward Spiral of Jack Swagger

[We Are Legion]

- As noted on Saturday, Jack Swagger was back on the road working weekend live events, losing to Brodus Clay. Swagger is said to be sporting a longer, slicked-back hair style, different than the style he was wearing before he left WWE TV several weeks back.

Are any of you still fans of the guy?

Only a couple of years ago, Swagger was being primed to be a big star in the WWE. He had a very impressive NCAA wrestling career and even set the record for most pins in a season at the University of Oklahoma. After debuting on the Tuesday night ECW program and having a short but successful run there, he would go on to win MITB at Wrestlemania 26 and cash-in the briefcase the same week to become World Heavyweight Champion for the first time. The sky seemed to be the limit for him.

But after a severely underwhelming feud with Big Show (a guy who even John Cena struggles to get quality feuds out of) many fans and seemingly even the WWE had him pegged as a bust and he quickly fizzled out of the main event picture after losing the title to Rey Mysterio in a Fatal 4-Way match less than 3 months after winning the title.

Every since then, Swagger's career has fluctuated between brief mid-card runs, the tag team division, and outright jobbing. He has never been able to reach the level he was at in early 2010 and doesn't look to be headed back there anytime soon.

I was initially pleased when he won MITB at WM26 and very optimistic when he won the title. I thought he made a very unlikable heel character, one that could get almost any opponent over simply because they opposed Swagger. Many pointed towards his lisp as a problem, but I always thought it added to his character in a positive way. It made him easy to mock and provided amusing interactions between him and his opponents.

Where do you think it went wrong for Swagger? Do you think WWE will ever give him another run at the top? What should WWE or Swagger do to make a future run more successful?

 

[PHX]

He's another victim of too much too fast but also a victim of not doing with him what JR has said WWE needs to do more of and what Paul Heyman did for his guys in ECW. Which was highlight his strengths and hide his weaknesses. Guy is a pretty good wrestler and they did a good job of highlighting him and celebrating him as so early on but got away from it. He's not a good mic worker but he could be good doing Kurt Angle type comedy. He's the type of guy who should have a manager to cover up his short comings on the mic which is why they took Vickie away from the wrong guy.

As far as too much too fast giving him the WHC was a mistake as was giving him the mitb case period. I think he's the kind of guy you have dominate the midcard for a while like they did with Dolph before teasing to move him in the main event picture. Will he be able to get back on track? It's not looking promising for him but he's only 30 so he has time.

 

[The Cork]

He could easily of had Sheamus' push and excelled (not as a face though) but for whatever reason he's been squashed for so long I've been geared not to care about him.

If they ressurected him and started giving him a few wins I'm sure I'd be interested again though, anyone can make a comeback as proved by Mark Henry winning a World title ffs.

 

[We Are Legion]

He's another victim of too much too fast but also a victim of not doing with him what JR has said WWE needs to do more of and what Paul Heyman did for his guys in ECW. Which was highlight his strengths and hide his weaknesses. Guy is a pretty good wrestler and they did a good job of highlighting him and celebrating him as so early on but got away from it. He's not a good mic worker but he could be good doing Kurt Angle type comedy. He's the type of guy who should have a manager to cover up his short comings on the mic which is why they took Vickie away from the wrong guy.

As far as too much too fast giving him the WHC was a mistake as was giving him the mitb case period. I think he's the kind of guy you have dominate the midcard for a while like they did with Dolph before teasing to move him in the main event picture. Will he be able to get back on track? It's not looking promising for him but he's only 30 so he has time.

The entire MITB concept is built on "too much too fast" which is why I'm just not a fan of that concept anymore. It worked well when WWE was actually in need of giving a bunch of young guys the rub really quickly, but that time has passed for a while now.

 

[Gimmick]

I've never been a fan of Jack Swagger. A highly impressive amateur wrestler, but as a professorial wrestler I just don't think he's that good. I can only pick a handful of good matches he's had, and even those aren't that good. Granted, I never thought they used him right in the first place. I always thought he would have done better as the silent face who just got the job done in the ring but instead they wanted him to be someone he's not.

It's not to late for them to try again with him. They could easily build him back up again if they wanted to (if they booked him properly), but honestly, I wouldn't exactly care if they didn't.

 

[Dale]

It's clear as day where they went wrong with him. They Chris Jericho'd him by putting him in a suit and speaking slow and monotonous, that was always going to fail for Swagger. He was perfectly fine playing the goofy somewhat comedy Kurt Angle heel but boy did they fuck that up.

Personally i'm still a fan and still he could be at the top because throughout all the jobbing they have him do, he sporadically gets these main event style matches against Cena & Orton that get given good amounts of time and you see the guy still actually has the tools to look credible amongst the main eventers providing the booking is there.

Long live King Swaggie.

 

[PHX]

The entire MITB concept is built on "too much too fast" which is why I'm just not a fan of that concept anymore. It worked well when WWE was actually in need of giving a bunch of young guys the rub really quickly, but that time has passed for a while now.

Starting to agree with that outlook on MITB that it has run it's course and that they don't know how to use it. Holding out hope they do it right with Dolph to actually make him with this rather than just an excuse to call him a former world champion but it might just be better ultimately for the midcard guys if they do it the traditional way rather than using the MITB case to hotshot guys.

 

[We Are Legion]

It's clear as day where they went wrong with him. They Chris Jericho'd him by putting him in a suit and speaking slow and monotonous, that was always going to fail for Swagger. He was perfectly fine playing the goofy somewhat comedy Kurt Angle heel but boy did they fuck that up.

Personally i'm still a fan and still he could be at the top because throughout all the jobbing they have him do, he sporadically gets these main event style matches against Cena & Orton that get given good amounts of time and you see the guy still actually has the tools to look credible amongst the main eventers providing the booking is there.

Long live King Swaggie.

^ It's delicious. ^



Seriously, that guy struck gold in quite a few of his promos. And that segment on Smackdown where he had all his trophies and crap in the ring and was getting booed out of the building was brilliant. I really don't understand why WWE didn't want to roll with that.

 

[The New F'n Show]

The talent is there in my opinion, they just have to give him a prolonged chance. And do that SLOWLY, unlike before.

 

[Chris]

I like Swagger I really do, but at the moment I just don't see them every doing anything with him again. he definitely has the talent, but it's as if WWE has lost all faith in him completely, so I don't see them ever building him back up again. At this point, I'd rather them give someone new a chance than Swagger getting another push.

 

[Big Red Jericho Punk]

Is it just me or does Swagger's hair look like Robbie E in that picture.

Anyway I've never cared for Swagger but he does have some talent in the ring. The lisp just kills him and they pushed him with zero momentum. Nobody understood why he won MITB when people like Kofi or Christian were prime to win it. Swagger can go but he just seems like someone that is lost and can't see someone that would be good as a face.

 

[Deezy]

You know how to make Jack Swagger a star?

Easy, highlight his amatuer background and have him just throwing people on their heads ala' Dan Severn or Taz. Don't let him talk, he doesn't have to. He can just show up, toss around fools, suplexes left and right and then have him turn down interviews while looking intense. Fease out every comedic aspect of his old character and no red, white and blue colours for him no more, he is back to basics Swagger who just wants to win titles and not entertain.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that people want to just see someone destroy people. Book him well and he could be Brock Lesnar type of hype.

 

[Troy]

I still believe that eventually he will be back in the mainevent. He has been down for a long time but the talent is there and WWE just need to get behind the guy again. He showed on ECW that when he has the right gimmick and when he doesn't have to talk much that he can play the role of a maineventer. I agree that trying to make him Jericho Lite didn't work and really hurt his career.

I also agree that focussing more on his wrestling and having him talk a lot less will help him.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Im still a huge Swagger fan he's a top 5 in ring worker in WWE right now. WWE just screwed him up/over. He went from jobbing to being World Champ in the span of 2 weeks, literally 2 weeks before he won the title he was losing matches to freakin Santino. So fans were never going to take him seriously as Champ. That said he delivered in the ring and in my opinion delivered on the mic, yeah he's no Rock on the mic but he's very confident and does a great job of portraying the cocky jock gimmick. He had some fantastic promos and drew pretty good heat for being booked so badly. Its such a shame WWE have jobbed his career away as with his skills, look and size he could be a huge star. I still hold out hope that he'll get another Main Event push or get any kind of push really, his team with Ziggler and Vickie could/should have been that but going by the way that WWE are booking Ziggler thesedays they still obviously haven't learned their lesson and with Daniel Bryan and now Ryback being promoted to semi Main vent status. WWE have already fufllled their quoto of Main Event wrestlers for the next decade, cant have to many people to potentially overshadow Super Cena or Super Sheamus afterall.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Something tells me he and Sheamus could put on an excellent match. I have been a fan of his really since his ECW days. Shame what WWE has done to him. I liked him on the mic as well as in the ring. He's proven he can run with the ball, but it seems WWE just wants the ball to continue to be passed to their star players instead of taking the chance.