WWE News: Jack Swagger talks about his plans to use Donald Trump in a storyline
What’s the story?
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and Bellator MMA’s latest signing, the All-American American Jack Swagger was recently interviewed on Ring Rust Radio, where he talked about pitching a storyline angle on Donald Trump to Vince McMahon during his days in WWE. This idea was pitched back in 2015, right before Trump announced his intention to run for President.
When asked about his ‘We the People’ gimmick and if it could have had an impact considering the current scenario in the US, he said, “Yeah actually it's funny because I pitched an angle to Vince. Zeb was away, and I said let's bring him back and let's do a Donald Trump angle where we mimic everything he does, says and whatever he tweets
In case you didn’t know…
Jack Swagger is one of the most talented wrestlers to ever step foot in the squared circle, having made a name for himself in the industry by winning prestigious titles like the ECW Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. He was successful in winning the WWE United States Championship title and is a former Mr Money in the Bank winner.
However, things didn’t look too good for him back in 2012 as he went on a losing spree against the likes of Tyson Kidd, Sheamus and Ryback. He took some time off after his loss to Sheamus, and made his in-ring return in February 2013 on Raw, with his new manager Zeb Colter, a self-proclaimed American hero. He was soon given a push and was elevated to the main event scene, where he unsuccessfully challenged Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Colter started managing Cesaro at the same time, and both his clients came together and teamed up to become the Real Americans. The team was very popular with the fans for their ‘We the People’ gimmick and technically sound wrestling manoeuvres and chemistry in the ring.
Swagger spent some time in the mid-card after the team broke up, and feuded with Rusev. In the 2016 WWE Draft, Swagger was drafted to Raw, and later on, switched to Smackdown once his contract expired. In March 2017, he announced his departure from WWE, having made a request for his release.
The heart of the matter
After spending some time on the independent circuit, where he worked for promotions like Federacion Universal De Lucha Libre and Compound Pro Wrestling, he started training in mixed martial arts.
The former Money in the Bank winner signed a multi-year contract with Bellator MMA last week, where he will be fighting in the heavyweight division. He is expected to make his debut sometime in 2018.
When asked about his signing with Bellator MMA, he said, “I really like Bellator and them as a company and how they are run. It’s a popular place for fighters to go to. It seems there has been a mass exodus from UFC-controlled contracts and I really like that especially coming from the WWE to have a little more freedom and feel a little more love as a talent.”
Coming back to his plan of using Trump in a storyline, he said that he had pitched the idea of essentially imitating whatever Trump did, said or tweeted back in 2015, and even took suggestions from Zeb Colter, who gave his own inputs on the storyline.
He felt that with all the controversy and criticism that Trump was facing due to his antics, the story would have received massive heat from the fans, which would have made it the centre of all attention. He went up to Vince McMahon and shared his idea with him, who unfortunately turned it down as it didn’t seem ‘best for business’ at the moment.
“I went to him and said, ‘Hey Vince, how would you like to put Donald Trump in the White House?’ So, maybe that wasn’t the best pitch. I thought it was really something special. I wrote it up and I showed Zeb and he added his little stuff to it and it could’ve really been explosive right now.
There’s so much anger towards his tweets, towards him, his behaviour, and that would’ve been like electric heat. I can’t even imagine it. It would’ve been good and just for the record, I pitched that in 2015.
So as soon as he announced he was running I was like, ‘oh gosh, please let me get on this.’ That’s a great idea like, I got all the moves, I got all the good moves, that’s sad. I’m going to pause and start tweeting and make the whole audience have to read my tweets in order to see what I’m saying while I’m wrestling. You guys are going to have to give up royalties.” he said during the interview.
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Author’s take
It’s too sad to know that such an interesting idea was pitched to Mr McMahon right before Trump told the whole world about his decision to run for President, but the angle didn’t see the light of the day.
Considering the fact that Trump went on to win the elections to become the President of America, the storyline would have done wonders for Jack Swagger by practically revamping his career.
With Trump being the cynosure of all media attention, this angle would have surely caught the eye of major media agencies, and given immense publicity to WWE. But, with the changing landscapes of WWE where it tries to stay away from controversy, it was right on Mr McMahon’s part to not give the green signal to this storyline, as it could have stirred up a political storm.