I liked Jack Swagger. I liked his goofy heel character when he first started out in ECW. Even when he turned into a serious heel when he won the World's Heavyweight Championship, he still had potential. He saw his best days when he teamed up with Zeb Colter. Although I would not say he had A+ overness, he became a character most fans could get behind, especially with the "We The People" thing. Fans love having something to play along with.
But let's focus on the last few months of his career in the WWE. He was obviously not doing anything on Raw. They sent him to Smackdown. A lot of fans expected that to help his career. Proving that Smackdown isn't exactly paradise, Jack Swagger was mistreated even there. It didn't take long for him to become irrelevant.
I would say that mistreatment was totally uncalled for. Not only for the sake of Swagger, but it did no favors for Smackdown. Smackdown has a thin roster. There have been multiple nights where they only manage three matches. Three matches in two hours is kind of ridiculous. And it is not always quality matches. To make matters worse, there are a lot of nights where certain talent that should be getting matches don't get matches. I have seen fans say that the tag division on Smackdown is looking terrible. I don't need to say anything new about the women's division.
Even if they did not want to actually push Jack Swagger for the sake of Jack Swagger, they could have utilized him for the sake of creating fresh matches. He could have been a supporting player. He could have been a jobber to the stars. He didn't even get that. There are some humble wrestlers that are just content with being used and being on TV. They don't need title pushes and all that. I am not saying whether Swagger is one of those guys. He might end up in Impact Wrestling in a few months and continue his feud with Alberto Del Rio, this time for the title over there. But if the WWE had utilized him more, he might have been willing to stay. And he could have been useful.
What is Smackdown forced to do because of this thin roster? A lot of talking and brawling. I have pointed out over the last few months that you have seen it a lot in the women's division. It also happens in the men's division.
Just because someone is a good talker doesn't mean they should always be getting promo time. There just comes a point where they have nothing fresh to say, which will hurt their promos. I have seen fans criticize the great Paul Heyman. He can definitely talk, but if he has nothing new to say, his promos get annoying, even to some smarks that love him. Isn't that the point, though? Isn't Heyman supposed to be trying to annoy the fans or the opponent Brock Lesnar is currently feuding with? Well, this isn't a good kind of annoying. His character just becomes annoying when there is no freshness to him. It is the same kind of thing with Mickie James. She definitely puts emotion into her promos and is showing she is capable of doing different types of characters. As a heel, shouldn't she be trying to annoy people? But part of what hurts her character is that the character is bad. And because of the thin roster, they will have her talk even when she doesn't have anything new to say.
As for the brawling, I have seen a couple feuds on Smackdown involve these heated fight scenes. It's not really an issue about worrying that someone might get injured. For me, it is an issue of whether these feuds really deserve it. Last year, Carmella kept on attacking Nikki Bella like these two had some kind of serious blood feud going on. They didn't. In my almost 20 years of watching wrestling regularly, I have seen a lot of personal feuds, and a lot of them didn't have the two sides trying to rip each other apart every chance they got as badly as I have seen some feuds on Smackdown since the brand split. Now, is the issue that those feuds of the past were overrated or not handled right? No. The issue is that the WWE is just trying too hard with the feuds right now. When you spend this creative energy on these feuds, what's left for the feuds that actually deserve the bigger treatment? Have one guy burn down the other guy's house?
How can having more matches help? You can further a feud through matches. Matches aren't just there so wrestling fans can critique them. Take Jack Swagger. He could have had a match against Baron Corbin. Dean Ambrose, who is currently feuding with Corbin, could be out there for commentary. The two could then have a confrontation after the match. Or Dean Ambrose could cost Baron Corbin the match. Or Dean Ambrose could save Swagger from getting beaten down by Corbin. A lot of ways to further the feud without trying too hard. They can still do something like that, but how many free supporting players does the Smackdown roster currently have? How many have the credibility Swagger had? And how many of them are actually being properly utilized to help keep these feuds fresh? The WWE needs to do a better job finding balance between matches, promos, brawls, and other unique segments on Smackdown.
I would say Smackdown is definitely overrated by many smarks. I do not favor any brand. I am just critiquing it objectively. Yes, Raw has issues, but Smackdown also has some bad issues that lead to a lot of talent being mismanaged. To say Smackdown is better than Raw is like saying the New York Jets were a better team than the Cleveland Browns last season. Well, yeah, a lot of teams are going to be better than a team that only wins one game all season, but both teams were bad. Smackdown, for all its good qualities, is underachieving. And it can improve itself by managing talent better.
Back to Swagger. What will become of him? I mentioned Impact Wrestling earlier. I expect that he will end up there. Will the WWE want him back further down the line? I cannot imagine that. Regardless, Swagger now has a chance to reinvent himself or go even further with the gimmick he had that the WWE did not do more with.
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