Jack Swagger - Where does he go from here?

A couple of months ago, if you had told me Swagger would be on the WrestleMania card, I would have laughed. Even though Jack is a former World Heavyweight Champion, he has been lost in the mix, and you wouldn’t have even taken the guy seriously. Some time ago, Swagger was repackaged as an edgy character, something the WWE hasn’t done since the Mohammad Hassan fiasco. And just as we thought this would be a great way to push him, WWE outdid themselves by placing him in the Elimination Chamber. Only a few brave souls would have put their money on Swagger winning the chamber. If you had asked me before, I would have told you that he would have a good outing in the chamber with a strong performance, and would get eliminated. Boy, were we in for a surprise!

Swagger not only participated in the chamber match, but had won it, thereby earning the right to face the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania. The WHC doesn’t have much importance now, with the WHC match opening the WrestleMania for the past few editions. With ADR as the champion, it was a perfect setting of an American heel versus a Mexican face, something which was done about a decade back with John Bradshaw Layfield and Eddie Guerrero, and boy, do we remember those encounters!

This was a great setting; the storyline could have been very interesting, especially since Dutch (Zeb) took over the mouth piece role for Jack Swagger. Dutch is a good talker, and can be a good manager, as he is a veteran in the business. So, everything looked set for Swagger to enter the World title picture, something the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community) had been clamoring for years now. But a few days ago, there were reports about media taking shots at Jack Swagger’s character and the WWE. This was delicate issue, as any negative publicity could lead to a backlash for WWE. So they came out, explaining themselves and the character of Swagger, stressing on the fact that WWE is like any other soap opera. And as it looked like everything was fine, Swagger did an Evan Bourne.

Early Thursday, reports came in about the arrest of Jack Swagger, due to DUI, and possession of marijuana. Copies of his mug shot started floating online, and according to WWE’s policy, Jack could be fired, or even be let off. It will be interesting to see the approach of WWE with this, although he might walk free due to all the attention his character and Zeb’s promos have brought in. Popular talk show personality Glenn Beck had taken a shot at WWE, calling it a ‘stupid wrestling company’, and that the Jack and Zeb characters ‘demonized’ the tea party character with their antics and what they speak. WWE had extended an invitation for Beck to appear on Monday Night RAW and address the WWE ‘Universe’; an invitation which Beck turned down.

Although WWE are trying to grab main stream attention with this character, Swagger did what only irresponsible people (Hey Jeff Hardy!) would do. He got arrested, and even though I’m neutral about people doing weed, it is certainly a stupid move on his part to get behind the wheel intoxicated and put innocent lives at risk. For this move alone, Jack should face the consequences, and the primary consequence I see is him being replaced at WrestleMania. It took a long time for Swagger to be taken seriously by the fans and the management, and just when he was being groomed to win the World title at WrestleMania, Jack goes out intoxicated and gets arrested.

If WWE does decide to take action against him, and pulls him off the card at WrestleMania, the best scenario going forward would be to put Sheamus in his place, as he is the only established main eventer who doesn’t have a concrete feud yet for WrestleMania. WWE might continue with the Big Show – ADR program, but I hardly think anyone would take the match seriously, considering the name pull the match has would be lackluster at best. Or they can involve the rumoured Mark Henry – Randy Orton feud in this, thus making a triple threat match for WrestleMania.

I, for one, was not offended with the character. WWE had done this many times before, although they pushed it to the limit with the Hassan character. If you talk about the Iron Sheiks, the Sgt. Slaughters or the JBLs, all of them have been highly successful. WWE was capitalizing on a current situation, and everything would have been fine even with the backlash from certain people, but Swagger might have messed up big time with his antics. I was always a fan of Jack, and always knew he was under rated, and was due for a push. Nobody would believe that he won the World title a couple of years ago, but when he was in the middle of getting a gigantic push, he goes out and does something to mess it up. I do not know what Jack was thinking, but he might have ruined his opportunity to go to WrestleMania, and win the World title. It will be interesting to see which route the WWE takes from now. Will they stick to their initial plans, ignoring what Swagger did? Or will they take action against him? Only time will answer these questions.