8 Struggling WWE Stars Who Would Excel In NJPW
7. Jack Swagger
SmackDown’s long-term success will partly be determined by the writers’ ability to turn its ailing workers’ careers around. Their attempts at rebuilding Dolph Ziggler as a main eventer fell flat when his SummerSlam WWE Title match with Dean Ambrose was met with wide scale disinterest from the crowd, and Jack Swagger looks to be next on the checklist, albeit at a lower level.
A listless former World Heavyweight Champion, Swagger’s career has declined to the point where it’s tough for most fans to muster a single reason to care about the guy. He’s always been awkward on the microphone, and has largely been used as a Main Event/Superstars-level enhancement talent since his alliance with Zeb Colter disintegrated. WWE’s attempts at rebuilding him against Baron Corbin are noble, but he might be a lost cause at this point.
Swagger was heavily rumoured to be leaving WWE earlier in the year. He’s still around, but if his latest push falls apart, there’s surely a home for him in NJPW. For all his misgivings, Swagger remains a great power wrestler with an incredible amateur base.
Jack lacks charisma on the mic to make it to the top in WWE, but that won’t matter in Japan, where wrestlers are expected to get over almost entirely on workrate. He’d be right at home alongside fellow bruisers Tomohiro Ishii and Michael Elgin, and it’s hard to imagine him not having great matches with veterans like Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata either.