WWE Superstar Study: Analyzing the State of Jack Swagger's Character

Jack Swagger is a former United States, ECW and World Heavyweight Champion. 

Just think about that statement for a second, let it marinate and then look at where he currently sits on the WWE’s pecking order. Crazy, huh? 

While Swagger’s WWE career started off with a bang, he’s slowly but surely worked his way down the card and is approaching irrelevancy. So, today, we’re going to take a look at the plight of Swagger with this week’s Superstar Study. 

Where He’s Been 

In September 2011 (after much pleading on Swagger’s part), Vickie Guerrero agreed to become Swagger’s manager, resulting in a bit of an alliance between Swagger and Vickie’s other client, Dolph Ziggler. 

Ziggler and Swagger would challenge WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom for the tag titles at Hell in a Cell and Vengeance, but fell short on both occasions. Though Ziggler and Swagger would still team together on occasion and both remained in Vickie’s stable, Swagger would turn his attention to Zack Ryder’s United States Championship, a title that Ryder ironically won by beating Ziggler. 

Swagger would actually win the US title in January 2012 by beating an injured Ryder on Raw, and on Feb. 27, he got a chance to become a duel champion when he and Ziggler challenged Epico and Primo for the tag team titles in a Triple Threat match. 

The Ziggler/Swagger duo was unsuccessful in capturing the titles yet again, however, and the following week, Swagger also lost his US Championship to Santino Marella on Raw and then failed to regain it in a Steel Cage rematch on SmackDown. 

Yes, the former World Heavyweight Champion Swagger lost to a comedy character like Santino in what was one of the low points of his whirlwind WWE career. 

Where He is Now 

At WrestleMania 28, Swagger was a member of Team Johnny, which defeated Team Teddy in the battle of the general managers. 

As a result, Swagger and Ziggler received a US title shot the following night on Raw, but Santino was able to retain his belt by pinning Swagger. 

Following the match, Ziggler and Swagger tried to attack Santino, but Brodus Clay thwarted their attempt. Clay nailed Ziggler with a huge headbutt and seemingly aligned himself with Santino. 

On this week’s Raw, the Ziggler/Swagger duo once again teamed up to take on Santino and Clay. And they lost…again. 

Though I figured this would be a drawn out feud that might eventually involve Epico, Primo and the WWE Tag Team Championships, the creative team already put on the Santino/Clay vs. Ziggler/Swagger tag team match, so I’m not sure exactly what will happen with this rivalry. 

Where I Think He’s Headed 

As I stated in Dolph Ziggler’s “Super Study,” I think that Vickie Guerrero’s stable is headed for a split, possibly as soon as later this month or in early May. 

While Vickie is a great heel manager, this alliance between her and both Swagger and Ziggler has just about run its course, and I think that Swagger and Ziggler are essentially holding each other back at this point. 

Thus, I think the WWE will rip this trio apart by drafting both Swagger and Vickie to Smackdown in the upcoming 2012 WWE Draft (whenever that may be), thus giving Ziggler a shot at becoming a singles star on a different brand than Swagger. 

I do not, however, think that Vickie and Swagger are going to say goodbye to each other because Swagger isn’t the greatest on the microphone and could use Vickie’s services in that department. 

While I don’t think Vickie will be able to elevate Swagger back to the World title or main event level, I do think that Swagger will be an upper mid-card heel on SmackDown for the foreseeable future. 

Potential early feuds for him include new Intercontinental Champion The Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. 

Where I Think He Should Be Headed 

I think that Swagger is extremely talented, and aside from maybe Sheamus, is probably the best full-time big man currently in the WWE. 

Just go look at some of Swagger’s matches on YouTube with guys like The Undertaker and John Cena, and you’ll see that he has the potential to be a major force in the WWE going forward. 

That being said, the WWE’s booking of him as a heel over the past couple of years (ever since that failed World Heavyweight title run) has been absolutely atrocious. 

The solution? Turn him baby face. 

While some think that Swagger would fail miserably as a good guy, I don’t see him being all that different from—and I know people hate this comparison—a face Kurt Angle. Sure, Swagger isn’t as charismatic or as good on the mic as Angle, but his All-American American shtick is a perfect way to get him over as a face. 

Just look at how over “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan was on Tuesday’s live SmackDown special. If there’s an easy way for a face to get over, it’s by showing an undying support for the United States. 

Call me crazy, but I think Swagger could work well as an “ideal American” sort of character, who always wears red, white and blue, and does everything “for his country.” 

At the very least, it’s worth trying to turn Swagger, who needs a character refresh about as badly as anyone right now. 

So, I think that the WWE should give Swagger a clean slate by moving him to whichever brand Ziggler isn’t on and turning him baby face. 

A good way to do that would be to have Ziggler turn on Swagger and attack him on Raw’s WWE Draft episode, which could put the two on separate brands and get Swagger some baby face sympathy. 

The WWE has already teased animosity between these two in the past. Now, it’s just time to pull the trigger on an actual feud and/or separation of two of the best pure wrestlers in the WWE. 

Final Thoughts 

Not everyone seems to care for Swagger too much, but he came into the WWE with a lot of potential and still has it. 

The issue with Swagger isn’t his talent. It’s how he’s been booked and largely been portrayed as a loser. The WWE can salvage Swagger’s dying career if the creative team just get behinds him. 

I’d love to see it happen, but I’m certainly not going to be surprised if it doesn’t.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.