What Went Wrong with Jack Swagger?

[Dagger Dias]

What went wrong with Jack Swagger? I've got two words for you: BAD BOOKING!

He was doing just fine with his upset victory at Wrestlemania 26's Money In the Bank match. Then he cashed in on Chris Jericho to become the World Heavyweight Champion in a reign that sees far too much hate around here. Swagger feuded with both Big Show and Randy Orton before losing the title. Swagger has the skills in the ring to make it further than where he is, despite not being one of the best at promos. What happened after he lost his World Championship? Absolutely nothing. That is where they went wrong. Swagger as a former World Champion should have been booked as such.

They had a chance for redemption during Wrestlemania 27. Swagger should have represented Cole in the match against Jerry Lawler. Did that happen? Of course not. A wrestler who once held the World Championship trained (kayfabe) an announcer for a match at the biggest show of the year. Then they had a chance to turn Swagger face with a ton of momentum when they teased a turn when he stopped helping Cole. Swagger went on to do absolutely nothing until his tag team with Dolph Ziggler and the US Championship reign where he, once again, did absolutely nothing. The horrible haircut he recently got makes him look like even more of a joke. Swagger always had the skills and will make a good jobber to the stars, but bad booking is what went wrong with him and no matter how much anyone disliked him as World Heavyweight Champion, it still happened and he did deserve the reign.

 

[Airehk]

What happened? They tried to turn him into Kurt Angle. It flopped and he will not recover alone. He needs a new persona.

 

[midgensa]

Swagger was SO great when he came on the scene in ECW. The push he had was perfect. The undefeated run and the violent, dominant in-ring performances were great.

Then, they started having him talk on a consistent basis. He was a whiner with a lisp. It just didn't work right. Having him cash in so fast and then win matches in ridiculous fashion against the top faces really hurt his credibility.

He would be a perfect get in the ring and dominate type performer. I don't hate Vickie as his manager, but wish she was more of a "put him at the top" top pusher than she has been with him. Her management of Edge would work well with Swagger, especially considering he is better with a mouthpiece.

I don't think Swagger is done by any stretch. He is simply too good in the ring to be done. But they need some serious work by creative to make him strong again. And I hope they figure it out.

 

[DirtyD79]

There's a few different problems going on here.

First and foremost he just can't cut a promo. He's a heel yet nothing he says in his promos makes you want to see him lose. He doesn't sound like either a pompous egomaniac insulting the fans or a mean nasty heel scaring them and threatening their beloved babyfaces. And yeah if you're gonna be serious business lisping like a tea kettle doesn't help your case much. he needs either a manager or a charismatic tag team partner to do the hevay lifting on promos.

Second and this is hardly unique to him, but they call him The All-American American yet we don't really see him doing things that would imply it. I mean what does the All-American American do that I dunno The All-Italitian Italian or the All-Mexican Mexican doesn't? It's like with Dolph Ziggler, they're calling him The Show off yet he never really does much showing off. Creative needs to remember it's show, don't tell. Don't have the commentators yappin' about crap like SAT scores or playin' football at ol' Pick and Poke. Show the wrestlers doing things like if a guy's a show off he does jumping jacks and backflips mid match.

He also looks too much like a goof, especially with that ridiculous haircut they gave him. When he first started they had him grinning like a jackass all the time. It's hard to take him seriously.

 

[Headman]

His theme music annoys the crap out of me, but that's hardly the reason his career is in the tank. He went from jobbing to winning MITB to a boring premature title reign. There is nothing worse than putting the belt on a guy nobody cares about in hopes of him all of a sudden catching fire. If he couldn't get over without the belt, then why would he get over with it? People will always say "He was over in ECW". Well nobody watched ECW, so he's basically over with the handful of fans who can stomache the worst crap the WWE is able to shove in our faces.

 

[The Crock]

Well, he was never very good to begin with. It's nothing against Swagger, he's got size, a good look, and is a great athlete -- the thing is, he's about as interesting as a door knob and he's got just as much charisma, too. Even so, the WWE got behind him and gave him a nice push and they seemed set on building him into a bonafide main eventer. To Swagger's credit, he worked really hard as World Heavyweight Champion, improving on all fronts, but he still didn't "make it." The blame for Swagger falling off lies firmly on the WWE's shoulders, though. You can't expect someone who was shot up the ladder so quickly -- with his push stalling before an unexpected Money in the Bank win -- to be an instant success as champion, nor can you just stop his push after he loses the belt and expect his career to to not flat-line.

Look, Swagger's a fairly average talent (he's got no really special features), but the failure of his push isn't his fault. A young main eventer needs to be supported constantly with good opponents and steady victories -- instead, Swagger's been an AWFUL United States Champion and has played second fiddle to Dolph Ziggler for quite some time now. Swagger was forced into the background, not of his own accord, but rather just because of being lost in the shuffle. It happens to talents all the time, so I'm not exactly surprised by it, but it's a shame.

 

[whoopin' ass]

simple - creative dropped the ball. look how they booked Kurt Angle when he came into wwe. he was booked as a bit of a joke and even after he won the title, they still booked him poorly. the only thing that saved him was that he was an Olympic gold medalist and just that damn good in the ring. what did they do with Swagger? booked him the same way. booked him poorly, having him lose joke matches to guys like Santino and generally just not using him properly. look at how a guy like Del Rio has been booked. he was brought on strong and has remained fairly strong throughout his time in wwe. even Sheamus, despite that King Sheamus losing streak, has been booked pretty strong. had they done the same thing with Swagger, people would buy him as a heel champ.

i see 2 possible futures for Swagger(i know, surprising). If they continue to book him like they have been, he will be gone before long. but if they started to give him a good push - have him get mad and just go nuts beating the hell out of people - i could see him as champ again in 1-2 years. all depends on if they feel he is worth it or not.

 

[cstatus94]

The question is not what went wrong with Jack Swagger but how quick did it take WWE Creative team to get bored of a promising talent. Beside some slight work on his Mic Skills. He is 6'6 so he is big intimidating has that World Champion look, The All American American Gimmick was ok (if it weren't for the fact its almost an exact replica of Kurt Angle's). Simply people like the Miz who also has had a similar problem winning in MITB loosing the Title after a good reign and then forgotten about and then contending for lower tier belts like US Championship what can you expect. He could of been someone who could of easily made a good World Champion Contender and a good Heel. Creative just got lazy most likely. Come on a Former MITB Winner and WHC loosing to people like Santino and Brodus Clay? It is just ridiculous but hey what can you expect from a creative team lead by Stephanie McMahon.

And I agree with The guy above me. Kurt Angle is like a perfect Package, EXCELLENT In ring skills, fucking brilliant on the Mic and comical, WWE simple dropped the ball and he is rotting away in TNA now sadly. Come on he is a damn Gold Medalist.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Same thing that went wrong with Ziggler for awhile, but going into it we all knew Ziggler was better.

He just got haulted for projects like The Summer of Punk(2.0), Rocky Returns, 20-0, Lesnar Returns, etc.

And put in a tag team and well,.....forgot about kinda. He had minor face time and got out shinned by Ziggler as almost every corner. Not to mention Swagger's acting is REALLY bad.

 

[Mike1411]

I think its kind of a similar situation to the one we found with John Morrison.

We would often hear how Morrison was a "young Shawn Michaels" and he seemed to always be on his way up but never made it before a losing streak and ultimately released.

I see a similar situation with Swagger however he MIGHT have a chance to save himself. During Morrison's losing streak he was given a title shot as a chance to pull himself out of his funk, I think this will happen with Swagger too he will be given a shot at one of the big fish be it a Title or simply a name and his future may be dependent on the outcome of this match.