"Jobber to the Jobber to the Stars"

[IrishCanadian25]

Evan Bourne is, and has been, and is meant to be, a jobber to the stars. Without the resurrection of the Light-Heavyweight Championship, Bourne is an above average and relatively popular enhancement talent for upper mid-card heels. i.e. S(h)eamus.

Well last night, Jack Swagger was pinned clean by Mr. Bourne. King called it a "HUGE" upset.

Was it really?

Swagger went from being the World Heavyweight Champion to practically being on the side of a milk carton to being Michael Cole's lackey. Somehow, he had zero involvement in the end of the Cole / King / JR storyline. Awkward...

He beat Evan Bourne the way he should have last week, and then rematched him last night because Evan kicked him after the match. Bourne took a beating and then pinned Swagger.

This effectively tells me that Swagger is the "jobber to the jobber to the stars."

Swagger isn't going to lose a program to Bourne. Evan isn't getting a massive push any time soon and Swagger is too good. But damn it all if this doesn't make you wonder what the deal with Swagger is.

Furthermore, am I the only one to notice that his pyro has been phased out? Now it's just music and pushups.

Is it too soon to wonder about teaming him up with someone to at least give him something relevant to do? Or do you think he's going to break out of this and rebound?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Swagger should have been given a face push once his program with Michael Cole ended, and it should have ended a lot better than it did. When the cracks began to show in their alliance, which involved Michael Cole shoving and slapping Swagger, if people have access to watch it again, the crowd popped big time for "The All American-American".

They need to allow him to do what he was doing when he was World Heavyweight Champion. It's not like he failed to live up to expectations, as I don't feel many people had faith in him to make a good run with the belt in the first place. They've tried turning him into Kurt Angle 2.0, and it isn't working and will never work. His ankle lock looks weak and he doesn't have the intensity of Angle either.

I genuinely would be interested in a face Jack Swagger. They should have pulled the trigger already, but have held off. Unless he will actually do something relevant as a heel, I don't see why not. And no this isn't another one of those, "they've nothing for him change his alignment", it's more of a thing where possibly as a face he could do better things than as a heel, is all.

 

[Thriller Ant]

I really think Swagger is on the path to a face turn. One of the common ways WWE has done face turns in recent years is have a heel go on a losing streak before the guy "changes his ways." Swagger's pyro disappeared during his title reign, and was phased out of any semblance of relevance within weeks of his reign ending. A face turn would be, in my opinion, Swagger's last opportunity to prove his worth in WWE before he could end up future endeavored.

 

[Heartachetonight926]

Am I the only one who remembers that Evan bourne defeated Chris jericho CLEAN on PPV last year? I guess WWE isn't completely wrong when they think there viewers have short memories....


Alright, on to the point.

Evan bourne is obviously someone who has a very slim chance of being anything other than he is now, but the crowd likes him, they pop for the shooting star press...and the WWE realizes that, that's why giving him a couple of "Upsets" over former World champions like Swagger and sheamus is only helping bourne.

As talented as Swagger is, he is still playing the heel...and Heel's need to look like cowards sometimes, and when a smaller baby-face comes in and pull's off an upset victory, it can only add to swagger's heat.

At least that's the way I look at it.

 

[mkman613]

Whats amazing about swagger is the crowd just wont react to anything he does. They just dont care.

I say - He needs to try it out as a face. If that doesnt work, put him in a tag team or in a stable (not as a leader) or say bye.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I have a feeling that the WWE had just one plan for Swagger and that was to become Kurt Angle version 2.0 overnight. Now, since that has obviously not worked out the creative team backstage might be blaming him for it and giving him a de-push or maybe it's a case of creative not having any material for him.

Swagger should have effectively turned face once his allaince with Cole ended. There cannot be a better way of turning face in the WWE today than hitting Michael Cole. Just ask Alex Riley. That would have given him with someting to go on as there are so many midcard heels on Raw at the moment. Being the second biggest babyface behind Kofi Kingston would have been better than the situation he is presently in.

If they keep him heel, I think that he will keep floundering in the lower midcard till he gets drafted yet again.

 

[airvar]

Or maybe two talented mid-card wrestlers just entered into a feud?

I mean Evan "Air" bourne did pin Chris Jericho Clean on PPV last year... He did start off "fighting" a heel Edge and team wtih John Cena in a Raw Main event.. Before his Injury he was getting a pretty decent push. I don't see why people feel the need to consider every mid-card feud a "De-push" , or something terrible.. Jack Swagger is on T.V. every week, Jack Swagger garner's a decent reaction, and will continue to garner a decent reaction.. Right now his character just isn't as hot as Alberto Del Rio/Miz/Punk/Truth, meaning you probably won't see him in the main event picture for a while.. That's not a bad thing it's just the way it is.. Personally I like Evan Bourne, and I like Swagger.. They have the capability of putting on a great match, and hopefully they are given a decent amount of time at Capitol Punishment to prove there worth..

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Everyone who isn't John Cena will always get buried on Raw. Fact of Life. Give me ANYONE else who is consistently over on Raw. Anybody, anybody at all?

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

Everyone who isn't John Cena will always get buried on Raw. Fact of Life. Give me ANYONE else who is consistently over on Raw. Anybody, anybody at all?

Miz. R-Truth currently. Orton before he was drafted. Edge before he was traded. ADR currently.

I don't really see your point.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Everyone who isn't John Cena will always get buried on Raw. Fact of Life. Give me ANYONE else who is consistently over on Raw. Anybody, anybody at all?

Rey Mysterio hasn't been buried lately, nor has CM Punk. They've fell to defeat but that doesn't count as being "buried". You jumped a bit too fast on the "Cena is the only one..." generic arguement button there.

 

[Stagger Lee]

As sad as it is to say, Swagger will never be anything more than a mid-carder and jobber because he has a lisp. They tried to elevate him to main event status before and people simply didn't buy it. He could win 30 matches in a row against the top names in the industry and all it would take to knock him off of his pedestal would be for someone like Christian to show up and say, "ssssssssssssssufferin ssssssssssssssssuccotassssssssh, ssssssssssswagger!" The crowd would eat it up, and once again he'd be buried, just like that.

 

[bigtrav01]

I like both Swagger and Bourne, but I don't think Bourne is even a jobber to the stars, I've seen Bourne job to jobbers! I think Swagger is more of a jobber to the stars, but right now they have began a program and I think it will be interesting to see where it goes from here, I think if you give them 10 or 15 minutes they could put on a great match.

Also I too noticed Swagger's now missing pyro, I just keep hoping every week that they are going to bring it back cause I loved his pyro, but hey, maybe they took his pyro and instead of wasting it on a guy that Vince lost interest in, they gave it to Drew McIntyre, who is also on superstars, heck he was in the dark match this week.

 

[Brahma Bull]

Just because someone is midcard does not mean it is a de-push. his title run was obviously a failure. swagger should not be in the main event, but he can do well in the mid card. being a midcarder doesnt mean being a failure. also, mid card faces beat main event heels all the time. as people pointed out, bourne has also beaten sheamus and jericho (the last one cleanly, on a ppv). rtruth beat jericho, ect ect. rhodes lost to bryan on smackdown, does that mean they are de-pushing rhodes? no, its just another way to create a midcarder fued.

oh and stagger lee its not swagger's lisp that stops him from being a main eventer. he just isnt that great. know who else has a lisp? rhodes, and its not stopping him. and, correct me if im wrong, but i believe that flair has a lisp too (he can obviously hid it pretty well) i dont think that stopped flair from being one of the best of all time.

 

[rpsulli85]

oh and stagger lee its not swagger's lisp that stops him from being a main eventer. he just isnt that great. know who else has a lisp? rhodes, and its not stopping him. and, correct me if im wrong, but i believe that flair has a lisp too (he can obviously hid it pretty well) i dont think that stopped flair from being one of the best of all time.

Damn you Brahma Bull, you beat me too it lol. I would also argue that it isn't necessarily a demotion for Swagger and they could potentially be using this feud with Bourne to build Swagger back up. The great thing about this is that they could go one of three ways with it, too. They could end up with the "mutual respect" angle like they did similar to Bob Holly and Cody Rhodes a few years ago and have them start teaming up, which I wouldn't mind seeing as they are both great athletes and would make a great tag team. They could use the feud as a showcase and turn Swagger into a monster heel who is tired of being picked on and made fun of by the WWE Universe, and has finally snapped. Or they could go the bath of Bourne beating him clean at the PPV, Swagger gets up and looks like he is about to beat down Bourne, but then shakes his hand and holds his hand in the air as a sign of turning over a new leaf. There are lots of other things they could be doing, but as long as he is getting TV and valuable PPV time, Swagger is not getting de-pushed.

 

[Starchild]

Swagger is an enigma to me, always has been. It's clear as day that he was supposed to be in the mold of Kurt Angle; he wears similar attire, has some of the same mannerisms, goes on about his background in mat wrestling, and even uses the ankle lock as a finisher. The difference is that hard as he tries, Swagger just isn't as interesting as Angle. He just can't put the personality, promo work, etc. together so it's never panned out for him. His world title reign literally came out of nowhere and was a huge flop. You can blame that on the writers but he really hadn't done much noteworthy before his reign or since.

I, like many on here, figured with the way the Cole angle was going that it would lead to Swagger turning face. At this point, it seems the angle went on far too long and he got left in the dust so if they even try to turn him face it'll have to be another way which is almost guaranteed not to get him over as quickly as it would have by turning on Cole. Riley turned on Miz last week and immediately had a huge reaction, and then when he attacked Cole this week he got even more over. I have a feeling that is what was intended to happen with Swagger but they just never pulled the trigger.

At this point, I don't know what there is to do. Swagger is pretty good in the ring, but that's about all. He just isn't interesting to me. Obviously we've never seen him as a face, so I don't know if that simple change would help, but from what I've seen of him so far I have my doubts.

 

[WolfNyte]

Lets set the way way back machine the year was 1993 and there was this scrawny punk kid who had zero muscle and was a high flyer...what the hell was that in 1993...he showed up on Raw his name The Lightning Kid and within months of his spring arival on May 17th he was pitted against Da Bad Guy Razor Ramon.

What happened next was shock and awe that had never been seen before the Kid BEAT the much Larger Razor. He was christened the 1-2-3 Kid as Razor stood in the ring jaw on the floor.

At that point Da Bad Guy's career was kind of stagnant he was getting matches with Bob Backlund and loosing to Bret Hart. Everyone thought it was another squash match but no. he Lost.

This storyline was what turned Da Bad Guy into the major face he was for many many years. It also LAUNCHED the career of 123/sixx/x-pac/sean waltman

May 17, 1993 - RAW: The Kid pulled off a major upset pinning Razor Ramon (Scott Hall)..

 

[GrandSword]

Just a thought... could Bret Hart (the "god" of technical wrestlers) be an on again, off again mentor/manager for Swagger? The Can-Am connection where Hart wants to bring "wrestling" back into WWE and it would be on the back of the newly humble Swagger who wants to wrestle. He moves up the ranks by defeating someone week after week thanks to the guidance of Hart (be him live or just mentioned by the commentary team) maybe a small pre-recroded video of Hart and Swagger training.

Swagger is a huge man, and can wrestle. He could be a great face for the company and talk less (as his lisp is seen as a hinderence) and kick butt more. Good guy Angle 2.0 he could be as he is the WWE's "wrestler"

 

[rpsulli85]

Just a thought... could Bret Hart (the "god" of technical wrestlers) be an on again, off again mentor/manager for Swagger? The Can-Am connection where Hart wants to bring "wrestling" back into WWE and it would be on the back of the newly humble Swagger who wants to wrestle. He moves up the ranks by defeating someone week after week thanks to the guidance of Hart (be him live or just mentioned by the commentary team) maybe a small pre-recroded video of Hart and Swagger training.

The problem with this suggestion is what you lead with. WWE doesn't want to be known as a "wrestling" company anymore. I am sure that I was not the only one who was almost floored when Kharma referred to wrestling last night during the broadcast and wasn't cut off immediately. This idea could work, but Vince would have to be willing to let his company be known for what it is and for some reason, he just can't/won't accept that

 

[GrandSword]

The problem with this suggestion is what you lead with. WWE doesn't want to be known as a "wrestling" company anymore. I am sure that I was not the only one who was almost floored when Kharma referred to wrestling last night during the broadcast and wasn't cut off immediately. This idea could work, but Vince would have to be willing to let his company be known for what it is and for some reason, he just can't/won't accept that

Maybe replace wrestler with technician.. however I think your point is the beauty of my suggestion. Years ago in the original ECW, the biggest heel in the company was Steve Corino because he cut promos about the evils of Hardcore wrestling and that Oldchool wrestling was the answer.

Swagger could be a twist on this and with Hart's enorsement be a hero for the male fans who boo Cena. I see what you're saying though as I thought of that as I wrote it but being a "technician" in today's WWE makes one unique instead of the norm.

Swagger: fighting against the WWE credo, hero of the purists... or something like that haha

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

At the moment, they have nothing better for Swagger to be doing. So, I'm guessing he beats the holy living shit out of Bourne for the next few weeks.

After that, who knows. They had an opportunity with Swagger and Cole, which could have been a lot of fun. It would get Cole out of the booth, and Swagger back into the main event. Swagger with Cole vs. Cena would have been quite the feud.

But, someone still wants Cole in the booth, and doesn't give a shit about Swagger. He served his purpose, and it's over. I hope I'm wrong, but that seems the most likely scenario.

Oh, and my apologies to Bourne supporters, but this is something you should get used to. I think Bourne makes a lot of sense as a jobber to the stars-type. He does a cool flippie , so why get rid of him? However, he's not on his way up. Too small, and it's not like he's taking Rey Mysterio's spot. If they bring back some sort of Cruiserweight/Lightweight division, he may get a push. But, that doesn't seem likely, so enjoy these random victories as they come.