Jack Swagger was a former World Heavyweight Champion, but by the beginning of 2013, he had disappeared from television and seemed to be on his way to a quiet release from the company. Things changed when someone in creative got the idea to build a storyline around the immigration reform debate in the United States, and decided that the blond-haired, blue-eyed Swagger would be the perfect antagonist in the upcoming conflict. Swagger and manager Zeb Colter began spouting Tea Party-style, anti-immigration hate speech on television, leading to coverage from news outlets - primarily Fox News, who felt that the characters were intended to parody conservative Americans. Glenn Beck took umbrage to the portrayal and singled out WWE decision-makers as "stupid wrestling people." In response, Colter challenged Beck to show up on Raw. He didn't. After winning the Elimination Chamber match, Swagger began feuding with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, who became the de facto representative for all U.S. immigrants. Del Rio ended up winning a high-profile bout at WrestleMania XXIX and the overall feud. By then, all of the news coverage had long since dissipated, but Swagger's career had still been given a shot in the arm.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
