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A Modest Man, A Confident Swagger

Posted: Jan 6th 2012 By: CMBurnham

Coming from the wrestling hotbed of Perry, Okla., it wasn't a big surprise that WWE superstar Jack Swagger would end up making a living in the ring."To say that I saw this coming, I didn't," said Swagger, whose real name is Jacob "Jake" Hager. "It's exceeded all my expectations. I knew that wrestling was going to be for me, though."

In the 1950s, Danny Hodge served as "the building block" of the rich wrestling history of his hometown, Hager said.

Wrestlers from Perry, which Hagar called "the wrestling capital of the world," have brought home more than 140 team titles. Hager became the town's 130th individual state champion his senior year of high school in 2001.

"We hold the national record for most state championships by a high school and most individual state champions," Hager said, adding, "I'm really proud to come from such an illustrious wrestling town and try to give back as much as I can."

Hager, fellow superstars John Cena, Chris Jericho and other big names will showcase their talents Sunday at San Angelo's Foster Communications Coliseum as part of WWE's RAW World Tour.

Hager's path to WWE began in high school and continued in college. He was recruited by NCAA wrestling powerhouse Oklahoma State University but ended up signing a football scholarship with the Cowboys' archrival Oklahoma.

Hager was a two-sport athlete for the Sooners in football and wrestling, but it didn't start out that way.

He was part of OU head football coach Bob Stoops' first recruiting class in 2001, the year after the Sooners defeated Florida State in the national championship game.

The 6-foot-7, 260-pounder was a second-string defensive tackle behind current NFL players Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek. He played football at OU until 2003, culminating with the 2003 Rose Bowl victory against Washington State.

After Christmas break, the Sooners' wrestling coach asked Hager for a big favor. The team's heavyweight wrestler was ineligible for the rest of the semester, and they didn't have any backups to take his place.

Hager decided to hang up his football cleats for good and focus on wrestling.

"The transition was so good, and I just really fell in love with wrestling again," he said.

In his All-American senior season with the Sooners, Hager set the record for most pins in a season with 30.

After a tryout, he signed a contract with WWE in mid-2006 and made his debut for WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling later that year. After a move to the Ohio Valley Wrestling territory in January 2007, Hager debuted for Florida Championship Wrestling. He was the final FCW Southern heavyweight champ and the first FCW Florida heavyweight title holder.

The 29-year-old debuted for the ECW brand under the name Jack Swagger in late 2008. The next year, he captured the world championship, the ECW Championship.

Two years ago, while he was a member of the RAW brand, he won the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI and two days later defeated Jericho to become the world heavyweight champion, a title he held until June 2010.

When asked what he likes best pro wrestling, Hager pointed to the live audiences and the young fans.

"The feeling you get when you're out there in front of the crowd, it's unbelievable," he said. " You could be sick all day or going through some family troubles, and as soon as you go through that curtain and the WWE universe greets you, it's all wiped away. For the next 10 to 15 or 20 minutes, all that matters is what happens in the ring."

And he loves slapping high-fives with children and signing autographs for them.

"You don't really realize it, but those things have such a huge impact on kids," he said. "WWE does such a great live show that it really it makes it easy for us superstars to give those magical experiences to the kids."

He's looking forward to WWE's San Angelo show this weekend and encourages fans to come see the action.

"It's going to be an awesome, awesome experience," he said. "I'll put anything on the table against a WWE live event show. It's the best value in entertainment. I'll put that up against an NBA game or an NFL game.

"We put our entire show right in the middle, and we center the great fans in San Angelo around the show. They're running the show pretty much. We're going to have pyros and we're going to have rock 'n' roll. So what more can you want?"