8 Wrestlers WWE Regret Making World Champion

5. Jack Swagger

Finn Balor
WWE.com

You can understand why Vince McMahon would take a punt on Jack Swagger as a World Champion. A tall, well built, good looking grappler with a legitimate amateur background, there was - and, to a lesser extent, still is - a huge upside to the University of Oklahoma graduate. And let's face it, Swagger was handed the World Heavyweight Championship when that belt was often viewed as an afterthought.

To say Jack Swagger's time as World Heavyweight Champion was forgetful would be a huge understatement. Simply put, fans just didn't care.

WWE decided to pull the plug on Swagger's championship reign after barely three months, with The Real American's spell with Big Gold not helped by the fact it was preceded by a hot Chris Jericho vs. Edge rivalry, The Undertaker having a memorable 140-day run with the belt, and a fantastic feud between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. In comparison to the year prior to his win, the World Heavyweight Championship just fell completely and utterly flat in the hands of Jack Swagger.

After losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio at June 2010's Fatal 4-Way PPV, Swagger's fall from grace was spectacular as he was soon handed the Swagger Soaring Eagle mascot before eventually becoming Michael Cole's trainer ahead of Cole's WrestleMania XXVII match against Jerry Lawler.

In this post: 
Finn Balor
 
First Posted On: 
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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 day job, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.