WWE News: Former World Champion Requests Release From WWE – Off TV For Months
As TNA Impact Wrestling has started imploding and losing big-name stars left and right, WWE is now about to have one less former world champion on its roster. When you haven’t been on television for months and haven’t really been used in years, it makes for a discouraging time. That is why former world champion Jack Swagger has asked WWE for his outright release.
For many years, Jack Swagger played a big role in WWE and was winning titles, capturing the Money in the Bank briefcase, and looked to be the next big thing. Then, he just disappeared and ended up falling even lower than mid-card and, ultimately, off of television completely.
With that being the case, Wrestling Inc. reported that Swagger was recently on Chael Sonnen’s podcast and officially announced that he had requested his release from WWE. Yes, there will be no more “We the People” being heard loud and clear in Vince McMahon’s promotion any longer.
Jack Swagger did not say how long it would be until he was officially no longer with the company as he just requested his release a couple of days ago. He said that it was “ongoing process” and that it eventually came down to contract negotiations, which weren’t even close.
The former world champion states that he and WWE were “way off” in terms of their negotiations and that the company simply doesn’t value him as much as they should. Knowing that, he has decided to part ways with the promotion and move onto other things.
Another issue that added to him requesting his release is that he just wasn’t receiving any opportunities at all. Back in mid-September, Swagger moved from Monday Night Raw to SmackDown Live, where he had a short feud with Baron Corbin that ended with their match at No Mercy and then an episode of SmackDown Live on October 18, 2016.
That was actually the last time Swagger was seen on WWE television. His last time on any WWE show of any kind was during an episode of Main Event on November 1, 2016, when he defeated Simon Gotch of The Vaudevillains.
Since then, he has wrestled at house shows but nothing more than that, and he was done with simply appearing on WWE Live cards.
When he was 26-years-old, Jack Swagger made his debut on the main roster as a part of the new ECW brand. After being on television for just around three months, he defeated Matt Hardy to win the ECW Championship, which he held onto for more than three months.
He was soon traded to the Monday Night Raw brand and the next year, he captured the Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania XXVI. Just a couple of nights later, Swagger cashed in his opportunity and captured the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho.
Swagger would go on to win the United States Championship one time and he was even a part of Team SmackDown at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view in 2010.
There is no word as to what exactly he may do, but as reported by ComicBook.com, Swagger does have some plans in place.
“I left because I wasn’t getting opportunities, but the world of wrestling is broadening and it’s a great time to be a wrestler. I’m young. I’m very excited about going to Mexico, Japan… if someone wants to pay me to get in the cage, I’m down.”
Jack Swagger joined WWE in his prime, and he really made a big name for himself in a short amount of time, but then he just started to fade into the background. For years, he was in mid-card limbo and after switching from Monday Night Raw to SmackDown Live, he just entirely disappeared. Now, it isn’t known what he will end up doing once officially released from WWE, but TNA Impact Wrestling has some openings.
[Featured Image by WWE]
