Jack Swagger has been working the independent wrestling scene since officially being released by WWE this past March. While Swagger has yet to commit to working for another wrestling company on a full time basis, he is keeping busy doing shows in the United States and plenty of events in the United Kingdom as well.
Swagger has continued using his “We The People” catchphrase on the indies and is trying to get over “You Don’t Know Jack” as a name of sorts. Most people are always going to know him as Jack Swagger no matter what he tries to use outside of WWE. Swagger recently chimed in on who he thought should be a World Champion in WWE by picking his former tag team partner Cesaro, which sounds like a great choice.
While Swagger has been working the indies, he has noticed that WWE has made it difficult for independent wrestling companies to book the best shows possible and he decided to use his platform on Twitter to speak out about. Swagger posted two videos on the subject, and here’s what he had to say.
https://twitter.com/RealJackSwagger/status/921094122475261952
…cont. #Standup4theIndies pic.twitter.com/OEtTzXTdEG
— Jake Hager (@RealJakeHager) October 19, 2017
Thanks to Wrestlezone for the transcript of the comments.
“Hello everyone, I know I am new to the independent scene, but I have seen a new trend arising and I wanted to speak on it. Whenever bigger promotions run their big shows, especially around the holidays, WWE likes to come into the same market and run a show at the same time. This has now happened with WrestleCade in November. Smackdown is now running the same day and is calling their show Starrcade. This is happening November 28th for The Wrestling Revolver’s Tales From The Ring. NXT is now running the night before. Coincidence? Maybe. They do book their shows months and months ahead of time. But what is even more possible is WWE saw the card for The Wrestling Revolver and said, ‘Oh sh*t! That’s a great roster! This is going to be a big show! Indies are hot! We should get some of that! We should try and sign all the indie talent to our brand! So they can’t compete with us!’
“I am not here to talk sh*t but I’m sorry I am taking this personally. To me this is a slap in the face. Typical WWE saying they are a bigger company and they can come into your market and push you around and run a show whenever they like. You want to compete? Fine. Real wrestling fans, indie fans, it is time to stand up for independent wrestling. On November 28th come to The Wrestling Revolver and help us outdraw the NXT show. Help Revolver and all the other promotions in the same situation. Stand up for the indies!”
Jack makes some good points about WWE booking shows in markets to where bigger indy events take place. There’s really not much anybody can do about it, but seeing him post about it on social media is cool because it will make fans aware of it. From WWE’s perspective, it’s just business and they could point out how many wrestling companies book shows in the same area as WrestleMania every year during WM week, so it happens to them too.
The reality is the wrestling business is never easy, but the independent promotions around the world are having some success and that’s a great thing. There’s nothing wrong with Swagger doing his part to try to support them against his former employer.
