Jack Swagger was released from World Wrestling Entertainment in March in what should be called a mutual release from the two sides. Swagger was with WWE for about ten years and felt like it was time to move on because he wasn’t a featured performer.
When Swagger was on our McMahonsplaining Podcast last month, he talked about how he got his name with WWE, his tag team with Cesaro and what Vince McMahon hated about him. Swagger isn’t a guy that’s out to rip on WWE, but he is also trying to speak up to help independent promotions as well. Clearly, his heart is in the right place.
Even though he is still going to be doing pro wrestling, Swagger recently signed with Bellator to begin what should be a promising Mixed Martial Arts career as a heavyweight. Considering his successful amateur wrestling background, he’s expected to make a smooth transition and could be a big star in the MMA world pretty quickly.
In a recent interview with WrestlingInc, Swagger spoke about the pay structure in WWE and how unique it is.
“It is very difficult to plan financially with the WWE because every week the salary was different. Every month the salary was different. It’s based on the house shows and the attendance, and any extra stuff that goes in there. It makes it difficult to be consistent with your budget because it fluctuates.
“It is a couple of thousand each month, but sometimes and a lot of times it is lower and that makes it tough. Once you make it up to a certain income level and you acquire and buy certain things and have a certain way of life, it is really tough on your family to go back below that income level because you have certain things set as far as private schools and things like that.”
It’s interesting that he would mention it like that because a lot of fans probably think the talent gets around the same amount all the time. However, it’s not like being on a NFL or NBA team where it’s the same salary every time you get a check. It changes based on how business is.
Swagger also talked about getting residuals from WWE Network, which started in February 2014.
“We were always told that the Network was going to be the future of the WWE so anything you can do for that it would be in your best interest. I never really got an explanation as far as how you got paid from the Network or anything like that.
“At first it started off as them not knowing how they were going to make money off of it and they passed it on to us like that, which doesn’t make any sense how Vince [McMahon] doesn’t know how he is going to make money off of this huge investment he made. So I honestly saw a little bit of an increase from the Network pay per views as much as talking trash of not knowing how it worked.”
Regarding his MMA career, Swagger has an idea in mind about how many fights he wants to do in 2018.
“All I am worried about is the date and am ready to fight, so I’m not going to be picky. If they want this guy then let’s do it … I would like to fight twice in 2018 barring any setbacks. Maybe, end of first quarter, beginning of second for the first one and everything will play off of that.”
Good luck to Swagger in his MMA training. I think all wrestling fans will be rooting for him to do well while he continues to wrestle on independent wrestling shows as best he can.
