Jack Swagger ARRESTED for DUI. The Fantasy Impact UPDATE 2/22
Posted by: choke Feb 20, 2013 | 2087 views | 2 comments
The Fantasy Impact of the recent Jack Swagger arrest
Boy, this guy can't catch a break. Except this time, it's his own fault as he was pulled over after the smackdown tapings and arrested for DUI and possession of marijuana. I first read this story on Prowrestling.net, which is my favorite wrestling news site
This article is going to assume that the WWE pulls him from his spot at Mania, which at this point is not necessarily a given, particularly with so few details known so far. With the story getting some mainstream press on TMZ though, I think the WWE will rather not risk the bad publicity of leaving him in such a big spot at their biggest show of the year.
So if he does lose his spot, who will most likely gain? The WWE could easily put together some sort of tourney or rumble match with the top stars like Henry, Orton, Jericho, Ziggler, etc to quickly put someone else in The obvious choice is Mark Henry, who was considered by most, including me, to be the favorite to win the Chamber before Swagger pulled the upset. Henry vs Del Rio is a much better sell for Mania to most fans given the perception they already have of the monstrous Henry. I appreciate what they're trying to accomplish to have the fans loathe Swagger, but so far the reaction has been lukewarm by most. I'm going to assume we won't get a face vs face match for the World Title and eliminate Orton, Sheamus, Hell No, Mysterio and Jericho from contention to take the spot, but obviously the WWE could somehow try to sell us on such a match or maybe turn one of them heel (Orton? Jericho?) I don't see it though. My 2nd favorite to take his spot would be Big Show, as much as I'd HATE to see it. It could be plugged as Show's last chance to win it or be placed in some absurd stip match to try to raise the stakes. Let's all hope they don't go this route.
Some dark horses to take the position would be Dolph Ziggler (I think they plan on having him cash in MITB at Mania, so doing this would be a little bizarre), CM Punk (mainly because I have no idea what they'll do with him if/when he loses to Rock on Monday and is out of the WWE Title picture for Mania), and for an extreme longshot, how about Sandow or Rhodes (I did say extreme longshot...., would either of these options really be worse than Swagger?)
It'll be very interesting to see what happens with Swagger as of next Monday night. The Fantasy World awaits....
[UPDATED] Feb 22, 2013 10:41:15 AM
Feb 22, 2013 by choke
the following update is based on a recent story at www.prowrestling.net
Well, looks like (for now at least), the WWE is going to just proceed with the Swagger/Colter storyline, issuing a press release inviting Glenn Beck to this Monday's RAW, challenging his statements he made about the WWE in regards to Swagger's character.
So all Swagger owners can breathe a small sigh of relief. Personally I wonder if the Glenn Beck statements and the potential publicity they could get out of this might be the factor behind the decision to move forward for now. It will be very interesting to see how it goes from here, but if I had to bet now, I think the match stays the same.