Explain It To Me: Jack Swagger

[achromat666]

Most have covered the important bases with Swagger already. He's a highly gifted athlete that has gotten far quickly with his size and ability. I think the mistake they made is they same they did with Morrison and numerous others when they put them in the main event picture: They make unnecessary tweaks to the character. If he was still the purely obnoxious jock gimmick that gave him his initial popularity it could be made to work.

When Swagger became world champion, they in that important aspect took the Swagger out of the character. He became an Angle analogue and it did him no favors. Neither does him using the ankle lock, by the way. What separated Swagger from other heels of his type (including Angle) was the brand of cockiness his character had. Now he's simply too serious to be that character and it's killing the gimmick.

A lot of people are basing their dislike on his mic skills but like Morrison I don't see that being the problem. It's the change in character that made his work on the mic less interesting, and makes him appear less unique.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

A few people mentioned backstage issues, which I was not aware of, as I don't tend to keep up on that stuff. Can anyone explain what the issue was?

I agree with others: the character change was a bad and unnecessary move. He did push-ups last week, which I was surprised and glad to see. (The trainer angle might have something to do with it.) I thought it was antithetical that when he won the WHC, rather than being built higher, he lost charisma, lost his entrance routine and lost his pyro. All of that combined made it seem like his entrance music, which is great, didn't fit with anything else. At the time he won the WHC, I thought he was overdue for a mid-card push and run with the US Title. The All-American American running around as the United States Champion--I mean, come on, promos could have been gold. Obviously, there were reasons WWE didn't want to take the strap off of Miz at the time, as he was in the process of his own push.

Regardless, I never thought the timing was right for Swagger to be in the main event. I like the guy, I think he's a fantastic wrestler and has a lot of potential, but when he won MITB it was a "WTF" moment for me, and having him cash it in a mere five days later (two if you ignore tape delay) was the worst way to go, as it killed any opportunity to build him up, allow him to get over as a serious contender and if they really felt the need to change his character, it could have been more gradual and thus more believable. Instead they just turned him into a boring joke who won on a fluke, in the minds of marks, anyway. The one thing I can absolutely say though, is that like Chris Jericho (and in only this way), he's one of few guys who can job, dominate the midcard, participate in IC Title matches and move to the main event as well without it really being questioned. If I had to pinpoint one thing that his WHC reign accomplished, it would be that.

Cole could be a heat magnet for him in the way that Vickie has been for everyone she's worked with. The two of them are pretty much the king and queen of heat right now. Linking Swagger to Cole could be what turns it around for him, especially if they're going for an angle with him making Austin a personal target. He'd ultimately get Stunned at WM, but since that's been basically THE place for it, it adds him to the history books, if you think about it. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in contention for midcard titles (depending on the draft), and possibly winning one within the next few months. His role at WM could work out very well for him, as long as Creative follows through on it.

 

[Mr. 619]

I am big fan of Swagger and I think one of the only people here that liked him as WHC last year. I hated is fall right back to the bottom, and was really worried he wouldnt even be on the Mania card this year.

His pairing now with Cole is brilliant. I think that after Mania, the focus should shift all to Swagger, with Cole becoming his full time manager. Cole draws immense heat and I think could bring Swagger back to world title status by the end of the year. Take the Ziggler route. Have Cole manage him to the US/IC title, and have him just dominate. Then by Royal Rumble next year he could be in a World Title match much like Ziggler this year. W.e happens then there will be make or break for him unfortunatly.

 

[iwinulose]

ive read these comments but im still not convinced, he is a technical wrestler nothing special. maybe i prefer monsters, giants, high flyers, and guys who just decimate the competition, but there are some good grapplers, and technical wrestlers but i just cant see anything good about swagger. poor gimmick, bad on the mic, decent wrestler (at best), overal jsut not entertaining. im not trying to bash the guy, but i strongly dislike him, he needs a complete overhaul then maybe he could be saved.

 

[FSWWE]

Jack Swagger is going to be champion again, mark my words...

Lets face it, Edge & Rey & Kane & Christian & Undertaker will leave WWE at least in five years.

So there will be almost none Main Eventer left!!

Jack Swagger is going to be one of them!!
He has great looks, excelent in-ring ability, however is mic skills are a little boring, but i'm sure he can be better than that!!

For 2011, I really want to see Cole as his manager, and going after people that Cole hate, people like Daniel Bryan!!!

OMG what a moment that could be!!

Jack Swagger vs Daniel Bryan - Last Man Standing Match​

Jack Swagger can go far with Cole as his manager!!

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's ironic that many fans who consider themselves wrestling purists have been crying about the lack of performers who are adept at technical wrestling...... yet claim to "hate" Jack Swagger.

I saw him wrestle at University of Oklahoma (as Jake Hager). He was an awesome amateur wrestler and he's brought those skills to WWE. As a pro, he knows how to work a match and does a terrific job selling for his opponents........ who, after all, are guys he could out-wrestle in amateur style with no trouble at all.

Yes, you could call him a Kurt Angle wanna-be in that he has the wrestling skills without having the personality to capture the imagination of the fans; I'll give the Swagger-haters that. But Angle was one-in-a-million, a great wrestler and talker who chose to waste the latter part of his career in the minor leagues.

But in Jack Swagger, we have the next best thing. I feel the company tried to shove him down our throats a little too fast with the premature title reign they gave him, but he's a great performer to have on the roster.

Let him keep trying; Creative may find the right program and right personality for him yet.