10 Things WWE Regrets About Elimination Chamber
9. Putting Jack Swagger Over (2013)
History won't be kind to Jack Swagger, and that's a shame.
He's too easy a target. Pushed way over his head in his early years, and later straddled with a fringe right-wing gimmick that fast became a caricature, Swagger was a figure of ridicule by the end of his WWE tenure. He never really developed the charisma required to be a convincing main event-level sports entertainer, even if though he was always pretty underrated between the ropes. Perhaps he'd have been better suited to a promotion that placed less emphasis on playing a character.
With all that said, Swagger absolutely wasn't the right guy to win the 2013 Elimination Chamber.
WWE did this to solve a booking problem. Royal Rumble winner John Cena was going to challenge WWE Champion The Rock at WrestleMania, leaving World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio without an opponent. Thus, WWE booked this contendership Chamber, and had it conclude with the least interesting winner imaginable.
Swagger defeated Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Kane, Chris Jericho, and Daniel Bryan on an EC bout located on the pay-per-view midcard. An elaborate setup for a WrestleMania 29 bout he'd eventually lose to Del Rio.