3. Jack Swagger Had Grown Tiresome As A Heel Act
WWE.comUnder multiple unsuccessful gimmicks, Jack Swagger has been a heel in World Wrestling Entertainment for six years. He's been the ECW and World Heavyweight Champion, a United States Champion, and held the Money in the Bank briefcase. A naturally big man with a championship collegiate wrestling background, his size, imposing presence and strength are what have been his hallmarks as a heel. However, Swagger is also an impressive athlete, which actually may have held him back as a heel wrestler. Jack Swagger really gives you no reason to boo him on the surface, and has always had to be saddled with a gimmick to draw his heat. He's a great athlete who moves with the agility of a man 50 pounds smaller, and capable of maneuvers meant for wrestlers of that size, too. As a pro wrestler, great athletes who can move with unusual athleticism are oftentimes better cast as babyface performers. A solid template for babyface Swagger may actually be former NWA Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco. Similarly from Oklahoma, Brisco was a fiery, yet humble babyface who could use his unusually high level of grappling prowess to gain victories. If you think that cheering Swagger was only possible because of Zeb Colter's promo, wait until you get to watch Swagger wrestle in a manner not constrained by a need to slow the pace and allow a babyface the space to fight back against him. In fact, Swagger AS the fighting babyface himself, likely to be far better than anything else he's done in the company over the past six years. This is, for certain, a developing story to watch.