Jack Swagger Discusses His Frustrations With WWE Creative, R-Truth's Current WWE Run
Jack Swagger made the switch from pro wrestling to MMA right before wrestling experienced another surge in popularity that's still going on today. He's been successful in his MMA career, but does he still have the itch to compete in a wrestling ring?
Nick Hausman asked Swagger that question when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"Absolutely, it's awesome to be a pro wrestler. I spent 12 years in the trenches, being treated like a grunt, and it's great to see the changes being made to the industry. It's really popular amongst fans in how they're reacting to it and gravitating towards the change," said Swagger.
He was then asked if Bellator would be willing to allow him more pro wrestling dates such as working for AEW in lieu of time away from the cage.
"That would definitely be a conversation to have. They've been very supportive of all my pro wrestling dates and they've encouraged it," stated Swagger. "You can see it helps to have a fighter with pro wrestling mic skills inside that cage because when fans start booing, you have to dish it right back at them."
Following Jon Moxley's departure from WWE, he said many unflattering things about the atmosphere and working there during an interview with Chris Jericho. Swagger was asked if Moxley's opinions were similar to his.
"I didn't hear the podcast but I saw a lot of headlines and from what I saw it does resonate. It's one of those things when you have a big company, things get lost or wasted," Swagger said before being asked if there was ever something he was asked to do that he didn't like or felt uncomfortable with.
"Character-wise, all the time but nothing sexually like you're making it sound [laughs]? Stuff like the 1000th episode of Raw and I got beat by Brodus Clay in six seconds. I literally took a turnbuckle and he covered me just because of time restraints. It was a big episode to be on but stuff like that and not having the amount of time to do anything," said Swagger.
"If you get time on TV, really the ball's in your court and you can take it and make it for what it is. But you've gotta have time."
Someone who is getting time on TV is Swagger's good friend R-Truth with the 24/7 division. Swagger talked about Truth making the most of the opportunity he was given.
"Man, he's beyond a Superstar," said Swagger. "He's just above and beyond and anything he touches is so entertaining. The best part is that it's real and sincere. You could see that that's Ron Killings; that's R-Truth."
Swagger then encouraged everyone to follow Truth's social media accounts as his channels are an extension of the R-Truth character.
"It's the whole thing ? when you get an opportunity, you've really got to make it your own. That's what he does with anything they give him. He makes it his own and it takes off. It's really cool and I think he's deserving of way more there," stated Swagger who also praised Truth for when he rapped Swagger's entrance to the Bellator cage.
Swagger's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it, Swagger discusses working with Capitol Wrestling, teaming up with the Wrestling For Innocence project, his 2-0 Bellator record, what's next for him in Bellator, President Donald Trump's pre-Bellator fight call to him, his frustrations with WWE creative, R-Truth's 24/7 title runs and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.