10 WWE Careers That Flatlined After WrestleMania

8. Jack Swagger - WrestleMania 29

Rusev WrestleMania 31
WWE.com

Things were looking up for Jack Swagger when he returned to WWE TV in 2013. After eight months away from action, the North Dakota native caused quite the stir when he turned up sporting longer hair, a beard, and soon with Zeb Coulter as his manager.

With a serious, aggressive edge to him, Swagger won the titular match at that year's Elimination Chamber PPV in order to earn himself a shot against Alberto Del Rio and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29. While he'd previously held Big Gold himself, this felt like an entirely new Jack Swagger, a more interesting Jack Swagger, and a more believable Jack Swagger.

Of course, the All-American American would come up short against Del Rio at 'Mania, and he soon went from WrestleMania World Title challenger to one half of a tag team. Sure, the pairing of Swagger and Cesaro was a fun one, but it represented a major step backwards for Jack when considering where he was positioned at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Once the Real Americans disbanded, Swagger became the same old bland, boring Swagger, with him spinning his wheels in forgettable matches and nothing rivalries until he left the company in March 2017.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.