As an in-ring competitor, Jack Swagger is large, athletic and gifted. However, given that this is pro wrestling, the need to be able to connect with a crowd is of absolute importance. Jack's underwhelmed at this for about seven years now, and it's probably not even his own fault. Bad creative's to blame here. In the early part of Swagger's career -- without having the opportunity to develop depth and scope to his character -- Swagger became the ECW and World Heavyweight Champion within two years of his debut. A one-dimensional character, without added dimensions than just "he's the champ" the more time he spent away from the title, the more his stock plummeted. Tag teams with Cesaro and being managed by Zeb Colter only served to expose the dimensions he never quite gained as a character. Once you're branded as "not a winner" in the fans' eyes, that's a mighty stigma to overcome.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
