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Interview: WWE Superstar Jack Swagger

Posted: Sep 13th 2014 By: Billy Donnelly - ThisIsInfamous.com

If you?ve been watching any shred of WWE programming the last few months, for all its ups and downs, I don?t think we?ll find much to disagree on when I say that Jack Swagger has been involved in one of the best feuds the company has had going in recent memory. Embroiled in a storyline with Rusev, who hails from Russia and is spoken for by the ?Ravishing Russian? Lana, proclaiming Vladimir Putin to be the ideal, Swagger has been defending the pride and reputation of the United States from their foreign insults.

It?s a page torn right out of the early ?80s when the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff representing America?s international enemies tried to prove how weak the United States was, only to be thwarted in their efforts by the likes of Hulk Hogan, ?Hacksaw? Jim Duggan and others who displayed their patriotism via in-ring actions. Hell, that very dynamic is at the heart of ROCKY IV. But in getting this angle over with the WWE Universe, Jack Swagger has once again been elevated from afterthought to major player.

A former ECW Champion and a former WWE Heavyweight Champion, it?s been a struggle for Swagger to remain relevant after a few angles ran their course, failing to provoke any sort of real reaction from the fan base. Since a promising start to his career in professional wrestling/sports entertainment, Swagger has found difficulty making his mark on a product that has gotten very top-heavy at times, often leaving very little for its audience to engage with in the mid-card.

A repackaging as a Tea Party sympathizer in the tag team The Real Americans helped boost his stock not too long ago, but the WWE failed to capitalize on his break-up with partner Cesaro, leaving him once again in what appeared to be no man?s land. However, in finally making a face turn the night after Money in the Bank this year, Jack Swagger seems to be a totally different performer in the ring. Whether its confidence or a renewed sense of purpose, Swagger has been tearing it up every night he steps through the ropes, making his confrontations with Rusev can?t-miss.

Impressed by the revival Swagger is experiencing, I was able to secure time with him to talk about this new jolt in momentum his career has received. I wanted to know what it felt like that night when the reaction to him going good blew the roof off and how that storyline connected with fans immediately. We also got to talking about his work with some newcomers to the main roster and some missed opportunities throughout his WWE run. Stand up. Put your hand over your heart. In a loud, clear voice, say, ?We the People,? and get to reading my conversation with Jack Swagger.

Billy Donnelly: Hey, Jack, how are you doing today?

Jack Swagger: I?m good, Bill. How are you?

BD: I?m doing all right. Thank you for taking the time today, man.

JS: No problem. Thanks for having me.

BD: I wanted to talk to you because I think that right now you?re doing some of the best work of your career, and it all started with the face turn the night after Money in the Bank when you came out to confront Rusev. Did you expect that type of reaction when you stepped out through the curtain and the WWE Universe popped so hard for you at that moment?

JS: It definitely is a special moment in my career, and I?m very excited about the future doing this run. I knew it was going to be electric that night, but I had no idea just how big it was going to be. I?ve been wrestling on TV now with WWE for six years, and always as the bad guy, and so for them to get behind me in one switch, one night, it was awesome. I really think that shows the beauty of the WWE and how well they do what they do. You truly never know what you?re going to get and it will always keep you on the edge of your seat. It?s always a lot of fun to see what?s going to happen.

BD: I mean what is it like to get that kind of reaction, though? Because I remember watching it as it happened and even just through the TV the Swagger chants were ridiculous. So for me to hear it through the TV and be like, ?Wow, I can?t believe it,? what is it like to be in person, in that moment, and kind of feel that?

JS: Oh, man? that is definitely a moment I will take with me for the rest of my life. One of the crowning points of my career. Hopefully there are more moments like that that come? But every now and then you come across a storyline that is very special and relatable to everyone, whether you?re a hardcore wrestling fan or just an average viewer, and to see America and those fans in the WWE Universe get behind me like that? I was so pumped up. I was so jacked. I was so ready to fight, and at the same time I was proud. I was proud of my country. If you look closely, I probably had tears in my eyes when I said, ?We The People,? because I felt that, and I felt everyone?s emotions behind that. I know everyone in the back came through and they told me that they stood up and they said it along with me, because it was just that type of moment where it grabbed you. You couldn?t take your eyes off the television. It was very cool. It?s up there with winning any championship.

BD: What is it about this particular time in this particular storyline that you think has connected with people? Because it is very old school. It goes back to like the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff stuff from the early ?80s. Here you?re still kinda working off this USA vs Russia dynamic that even ROCKY IV used that even in the modern day seems to be very relevant. So why do you think that it?s managed to connect with people so well that it?s become, to me, I think the most compelling storyline that the WWE has been running as of late?

JS: I think it?s a couple of things, why it turned out so well and why it hit home. One is that Rusev is this big immovable force. Amazing competitor. And Lana? She cuts these very anti-American promos, very believable, and if there?s one thing that Americans can agree on, it?s pride for their country. We can be torn a million different ways about issues that are going on, but then when you start talking about our country, one thing about real Americans? You can push us, and push us, and knock us down, but when the times get tough, we?re gonna unite, and we?re gonna stand up together and we?re gonna get stronger. And I think it?s along those lines. This is a very topical issue now, with the world and certain things that are going on, certain factions outside of our country, have all added to the storyline and just made it that much more passionate and that much more heartfelt. You look at the World Cup and how big soccer has become in America since then, I mean everybody was so proud of those boys down there, going out there and just playing their hearts out, and just wanted them to do well. If you give an American a chance to stand up and say ?USA,? he?s gonna stand up and he?s gonna scream ?USA.? It?s one of the most beautiful things about our country. We love it, and we?re gonna fight for it.

BD: You guys have really good chemistry together in the ring, and it?s kinda translated, not only just the storyline outside of the ring, but the story that the matches have told. Did you guys realize very quickly that you guys worked well together? Because I?m sure that sometimes you just step into the ring with someone and it just doesn?t click, but this seemed to click really quickly.

JS: Yeah, throughout my career, I?ve always noticed the first time I wrestle with someone whether it was going to be pulling teeth and here and there, and then you get those people that you haven?t touched once and you go out there on a pay-per-view and you just connect and just feed off of each other?s intensities and you go out there and compete and raise the bar and they make you raise the bar. There?s very special wrestlers that can do that, and yeah, it was one of those where we connected, and it really worked well.

BD: Well, it looks like things are heating up with Bo Dallas now, which would be the third superstar in a row that you?ve worked with who is called up from NXT, with Adam Rose, Rusev and now Bo Dallas. Being one of the veterans now in the locker room, what kind of knowledge and wisdom do you try to pass along to them when you?re working with them to kinda prepare them for what?s to come, as a young talent that?s still on the way up?

JS: Well, I don?t know if I would go so far as to call myself a veteran of the locker room? But I have had the honor of privilege of working with guys like Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Triple H? A lot of guys that don?t compete anymore, so a lot of guys coming up now aren?t going to have that knowledge or experience of someone who grew up in a different generation and had that old-school mentality and was able to pass it along to guys like me or Dolph Ziggler. It?s something that?s very special and can?t be overlooked, because it really is like? Triple-H and Undertaker, when they wrestled at WrestleMania, they?re the last of their generation, you know? And no one else is going to have that now, coming up. So it is important to try and pass along certain issues that you can help guys with. Me, I?m a very giving guy, and I always want to help and I always want to learn something, so I just try and pass along my hunger to those guys. I?m like, ?Look, either you want this, and this is going to be how it is and you?re going to eat, sleep and breathe this, or you?re not going to make it.? I think that?s one of the most important things. You just gotta stay hungry.

BD: With the breakup of the Real Americans, that was kinda teased for quite a bit and there?s a lot of interest in when it was going to happen, when the other shoe would drop. Would you have liked to have seen more done in the aftermath of that breakup than what it amounted to as it was?

JS: Absolutely. Antonio Cesaro and I? I always say that we?re the greatest tag team not to win a championship. There was something very special between us with the way we competed and the way we set off each other, and the way it went down definitely wasn?t the way I would have liked it to. But at the same time, the door is always open, so I feel like there was so much interest there that we could go back to that at any time.

BD: Well, let me also ask you, going back all the way to the beginning, or early in your career, which was your run with the World Heavyweight Championship. You kinda had a change of persona a little bit, a change in attitude, went a little bit more serious? Was that a mistake to change the character so drastically so quickly? And looking back, do you wish that things had been done differently as far as how that title reign played out?

JS: You know, I try to live my life with no regrets, so when I look back on something, I don?t regret anything. I try to learn from the mistakes. I?m 6?6, 270, but I?m kind of a Marmaduke. I?m a little bit of a goofy guy. So maybe certain things could have been turned back, certain attitudes and personalities should definitely be amplified? Looking back, I would definitely have done it differently. Not so drastic. But that?s part of the learning curve, you know?

BD: From that point you kind of go into a lull as far as your future and stuff are concerned. There was some stuff with Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler in the middle, and then you finally got back to the main event picture with Alberto Del Rio. But do you, in order to get to where you are now, does it ever feel like you?re working against perception from? not past failures, but things that didn?t work, or things that didn?t connect, and as a result it gives people doubt or kind of casts a second glance at whether or not they want to do something with Jack Swagger, and you have to kind of work twice as hard to try and correct that for something that may not be accurate?

JS: Well, the thing about being a WWE Superstar is that it?s not a sprint, it?s a marathon, and it?s a roller coaster of a marathon. You?re gonna have your ups and your downs. You have to ride it out. At certain moments, the limelight is gonna be on you and you have to be ready to shine and run with the ball, and at certain moments it?s going to be about someone else and you?ve gotta understand what we?re going and where we?re trying to go and to do the best that you can. At times it is tougher. When you have momentum going and then it just stops, it?s hard to build that momentum up with the WWE Universe to build a natural interest in a superstar because you can?t force it down their throats. They?re an educated audience and they?re not gonna buy it. It is difficult at times, and it?s hard when you get frustrated, but at the same time I always still feel like if you?re not frustrated, then you don?t want it bad enough. It?s in your hands, so you do what you can do to control the situation and to make it better. You have to stay positive.

BD: Well, Jack, thank you very much man. It has been an absolute pleasure watching you these past few months. I could watch you and Rusev all day, every day right now. I wish you luck, man. You?ve come a long way to get back to this point and I?d like to see it continue to ride out for you.

JS: Thank you, Bill. We?re not gonna stop.