At WrestleMania XXVI, fans were thrown a curve ball when All American American Jack Swagger defeated 9 other men and won the Money in the Bank briefcase. On the first episode of SmackDown after that Mania, Swagger shocked the world once again by successfully cashing in the briefcase, defeating then-World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho for the title. At first, it seemed that Swaggers momentum was on the rise; after all, he had everything that Vince liked in a Superstar: he was big, muscular, athletic, and had amateur wrestling skills, which gave him an added touch of legitimacy. He even defeated Chris Jericho in a rematch for the title, and adopted a more serious persona to fit his new World Champion position. Unfortunately, Swaggers sudden reign was more a symptom of WWEs Creative team lacking in, well, creativity, because Swaggers reign seemed to be nothing more than a flash in the pan, before he lost the belt to Rey Mysterio. And just like that, Swaggers main event run was over. It was WWEs attempt at a curve ball, and all it did was highlight how Swagger wasnt ready for the top of the SmackDown roster. WWE attempted to salvage Swaggers upper card career by featuring him prominently alongside Michael Cole in the latters feud with Jerry Lawler (itself a terrible rivalry). However, despite the commentators regularly referring to him as a former World Champion, Swagger was playing second fiddle to Michael Cole at every opportunity. Swagger eventually faded into mid-card purgatory, alongside other former World Champions (theres a pattern here), and in recent months has been turned into a glorified jobber for Rusev; which is hardly a position fitting an athlete with legitimate amateur wrestling credentials and a former World Heavyweight Champion.