Next time the announcers refer to Jack Swagger as a former world champion, thank Shelton Benjamin, Christian, Kane, Matt Hardy, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Montel Vontavious Porter, and Dolph Ziggler. They were the other wrestlers in the crowded 10-man MITB ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which Swagger won. Two days after winning it (five if youre counting the tape-delay magic of Smackdown, as WWE does), Swagger cashed in on a helpless Chris Jericho to win his only world title. At the time, WWE had plans to make the All-American American a star, but it ultimately went nowhere. Swagger held the belt for an uneventful two months and then was ratcheted down the card, gaining a soaring eagle mascot (Chavo Guerrero in costume) and then serving as Michael Coles trainer for WrestleMania XXVII and aligning himself with Vickie Guerrero. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jZpgEDwnVQ Swagger settled in as a mid-card act with Zeb Colter and Cesaro as the Real Americans, then became Rusevs favorite All-American punching bag. Hes rarely been seen on television lately.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
