High Road/Low Road 04.09.10: Jack Swagger As World Champion

Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road!

A brief explanation of the column: Normally, Sat takes the High Road (positive view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Chad Nevett takes the Low Road (negative view), but, this week, things are reversed with Chad taking the High Road and Sat taking the Low Road.

Results for WrestleMania XXVI:

High Road: 36%
Low Road: 14%
Both Roads: 50%

Chad Nevett: Mostly Both Roads leaning High sounds about right to me. A good WrestleMania that just wasn’t great.

Sat: I’m kind of starting to think that every WrestleMania is going to have a lot of hype and then fail to deliver.

JACK SWAGGER AS WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

High Road:

While some may think that it’s too soon for Jack Swagger to be World Heavyweight Champion, he’s already proven himself capable of being a world champion with his ECW run where he carried that belt strongly before dropping it to Christian.

Low Road:

He did do a good job as the ECW champion, but being the WWE champion and the World champion is a different animal than being the ECW champion. On ECW, he also had to deal with lower expectations, but on SmackDown expectations are higher. I hoping that he can do a good job, but to say that he had success on ECW and that should translate to SmackDown is a bit of stretch.

High Road:

Jack Swagger has put on some very good matches with the likes of Triple H and John Cena, showing that he can hold his own against existing main eventers.

Low Road:

I cannot argue with this. If he managed to have good matches with Triple H and John Cena, then the odds are good that he will have good matches with Chris Jericho and Edge, who are definitely better in ring technicians than Cena and Triple H.

High Road:

Jack Swagger cashing in his Money in the Bank title shot so quickly was surprising and makes his reign that much more exciting from the get-go since no one expected it so soon. The WWE has never had someone cash in Money in the Bank so quickly and to have Swagger do so looks like a strong vote of confidence in him and his abilities.

Low Road:

I do not think the WWE had him cash it in quickly just because they were confident his ability and it is a vote of confidence. They had him cash it in early just because there is most likely going to be a Money in the Bank pay per view coming up and it makes no sense to have two Money in the Bank briefcases at the same time.

High Road:

Probably the weakest ability of Swagger’s is his ability on the mic, but he’s improved greatly over the last few months, doing good commentary work on the Raw before WrestleMania and his State of the Championship address on Smackdown shows that, while he’s not fantastic on the mic yet, he’s well on his way.

Low Road:

I thought his State of the Championship address on SmackDown was really bad; one of the worst promos he has done ever. I still think he can be decent enough in his promos to where it will not be a liability, but he cannot keep doing things like the State of the Championship address.

High Road:

With his strong amateur background, Swagger has the potential to be the heir to Kurt Angle in the WWE, except with more power. His combination of strong mat skills, extensive knowledge of holds, and his size and power make for a solid all around package that can carry Swagger far.

Low Road:

The Kurt Angle analogy is a good one. The only problem is that the WWE has really not given Swagger too much of an opportunity to showcase his mat skills. I also think that Kurt Angle showed tremendous growth really quickly, while Jack Swagger has been a bit slow on his growth. Finally, Kurt Angle improved dramatically with his promos, something Swagger will need to do before he is in the same class as Kurt Angle.

High Road:

Unlike Sheamus’s world title reign, Swagger has previous championship experience, has wrestled against a large chunk of the WWE’s roster on ECW and RAW, and is known by fans. His Money in the Bank victory didn’t come out of nowhere or seem undeserved, making his World Heavyweight Championship reign not seem entirely out of place either.

Low Road:

His Money in the Bank victory did come out of nowhere; only a few people picked him to win while the majority had either picked Christian or Drew McIntrye. While he does have previous championship experience, he has wrestled most of the WWE roster, and is known by the fans, none of that matters if he does not pick up a quality victory as the World Champion. And if RAW is any indication, it seems like the WWE is not going to be giving him a quality victory.

High Road:

Swagger has a good character in his All-American American persona, one that works well as an arrogant heel, but could also be the driving force behind a face turn, something that not a lot of gimmicks/characters have. That versatility is more a long-term positive, but to be a viable main eventers, you need long-term positives like that.

Low Road:

The character that Jack Swagger has is definitely a good character and one that can work as a heel or a baby face. While this is important to being a viable main eventer, the most important thing for him to be a successful main event is having a good run as the World Champion. The other important thing that needs to happen with Swagger is that when he does lose his championship, he cannot disappear to Superstars. He will need to a weekly feature on SmackDown.

High Road:

The purpose of Money in the Bank is to elevate younger talent and that’s what is being done with Swagger. While he’s the least established person to cash in Money in the Bank successfully, he’s a good demonstration of the WWE’s willingness to use MitB to push younger talent to the next stage.

Low Road:

The WWE has definitely used the Money in the Bank to elevate younger talent to the main event position. I think the Money in the Bank pay per view coming in is going to be a real indication of whether the WWE really believes in this philosophy. I do not know why, but I have a gut feeling that this new pay per view is going to lead to a trend of the veterans winning the Money in the Bank briefcase.

High Road:

Jack Swagger’s involvement in the Chris Jericho/Edge feud helps Edge’s face turn since, now, he has two opponents to overcome, making him an even bigger underdog. As well, Swagger cannot help but look good when facing either of those men, two very experienced wrestlers that can help put him over, giving him two main eventers to go over.

Low Road:

The points you make here are very good, but the main thought that came to mind for me when Swagger cashed in the contract was the fact that the WWE felt that they could not continue the feud with just Jericho and Edge. The feud was poorly booked leading up to WrestleMania and Swagger’s addition to the feud reinforced that view in my mind.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?

High Road
Low Road
Both Roads
OR

Simply write “High Road”, “Low Road”, or “Both Roads” in the comment section.

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Chad Nevett: There were no e-mails this week, so let’s get to the comments.

Comments:

Below are the comments for last week’s columns and our responses. Every comment will not be included because it makes our lives a lot easier. The comments section was last looked at on April 6.

SHADE Writes:

Both roads.

I enjoyed the show overall but I can’t consider it a 100% high road. The divas match is my early pick for Worst Match of the Year and the main event is up there for Best Match. Extend the show to 11:30 or Midnight and we may have had a High Road here. Then again, the Hart/McMahon match may have gone on for the half an hour it felt like had that happened.

Chad Nevett: I don’t think that the show needed more time, it just needed to tighten up the Hart/McMahon match and get rid of the Divas match. The extra time could have been passed onto some of the other matches and I think it would have been fine.

Sat: The main problem was the timing of the matches. Hart/McMahon needs to go awhile like I mentioned last week. The divas match could have been removed.

The Gold Standard Writes:

Low Road. Only judging from someone who read the PPV and didn’t see it. Seems like the build for it revolved around one match and honestly didn’t seem like a big deal. I think its time to try some new headliners for Mania and years to come. Cena has been in the Mania main event going on 5 years now. Love to see a CM Punk or Morrison headline.

Chad Nevett: I read the recap and then watched it later in the week and it definitely comes off better when you see it. Or, at least, it did for me.

Sat: I watched it live. It started off well, but after seeing all the short matches; it could a bit boring. The Batista/Cena and HBK/Taker matches were excellent and Mysterio/Punk had a great match given the amount of time they were given.

Guest#2256 Writes:

Both Roads

The tough thing here is that the show didn’t live up to its potential (in my mind, at least). There were some bad parts and the rest was acceptable at best.

– Unified Tag Match & Punk/Mysterio: needed more time
– Diva Match: didn’t need to be there
– MITB: It felt disjointed, even though there were like a 1000 guys in that match
– HHH/Sheamus & Legacy Triple Threat: predictable results, execution was good.
– Hart/McMahon: felt kind of long and the Hart lumberjacks didn’t make sense. Having seen Bret’s limitations, I would have reconsidered doing a 1-on-1 match.
– Edge/Jericho & Cena/Batista: didn’t feel like WM caliber matches
– HBK/Taker: no major complaints. I would have liked Michaels to work on Taker’s leg a little more.

Chad Nevett: Cena/Batista didn’t feel like a WrestleMania caliber match? I can sort of understand people saying that about Jericho/Edge even though I disagree, but Cena/Batista was the pure definition of a WrestleMania main event.

Sat: I could have done without all of the lumberjacks; I would have just had the Hart Dynasty out there and that would be it.

Guest#8739 Writes:

Both roads. I would definitely vote low road if it wasn’t for HBK/Taker and the closing moment of HBK retiring. Everything else was just so bland, forgettable and unexciting, it felt at times like an episode of RAW in a bigger stadium.

Chad Nevett: If it were an episode of Raw, the tag match wouldn’t have been the only 3-minute match.

Sat: I don’t think it can be considered an episode of RAW; if had been we would have seen multiple in ring promos.

ROH Commish Writes:

High Road: Edge v Jericho; Taker vs HBK; Cena v Batista
jk
Both Roads: MITB; very stale and poor execution. It was botchamania. Bourne was the star.

Low Road: Undercard

Nothing felt that important. If you didn’t miss the show, so what? This show is only worth one viewing. HBK v Taker 2 was good but not great. HBK needed to play HEEL. I know they wanted him to get a nice crowd sendoff but it still would have happened anyway. The No DQ stip was added just so they could rest after the table moonsault.

Mania is long enough at 4 four hours. If anything, WM 26 showed that less is more. 3 hours and a half with 7 quality matches is the way to go. The fact that everyone needs a mania payday is crippling the show.

Chad Nevett: I agree with that last sentence. The WWE works really hard to get as many people on the card as possible to keep morale high and I can appreciate that, but it is somewhat detrimental to the finished product. Money in the Bank was too chaotic and the Divas match was awful. WrestleMania should feature only the best and be the WWE’s guaranteed best PPV of the year. The card was there for that this year, but it was squeezed a little tight by the unnecessary participants.

Sat: I also agree with the last statement, but I don’t see the WWE adopting this philosophy any time soon.

SpankyHamm Writes:

Both roads

Individually, the only matches that were below two stars were the Divas and Hart/McMahon. Yes, the Punk/Rey and Tag Team matches suffered from a lack of time, but they were adequate matches.

And you did have the one memorable match between HBK and Taker – the match was *** 1/2 and the story told was **** 1/2 – but still, it seemed like a repeat of last year’s match (kicking out of each other’s finishers multiple times).

But other than the HBK/Taker match – there was nothing that was memorable. There were no surprises, there was nothing innovative and the results were fairly predictable. Three months from now – nothing coming out of Wrestlemania will be relevant except for no HBK.

And the other thing which I hate about WM (in general) is that this used to be the end – the conclusion – to longer stories. But it seems like most of the storylines coming out of WM are being continued.

HHH/Sheamus – continued on Raw
Cena/Batista – continued on Raw
Edge/Jericho – continued on Smackdown
Punk/Rey – continued on Smackdown

4 of the 7 major storylines coming in are continuing (assuming Bret/McMahon and Legacy are both done, and we know HBK is done).

So – this is a both roads. High road for in ring action, low road for lack of memorable moments and WM just being “another” PPV.

Chad Nevett: I think Raw and Smackdown cause for stories to continue post-‘Mania since they have to put on shows the next two nights following WrestleMania and, with all of the creative energy focused on ‘Mania leading up to it, there just isn’t time to start creating feuds from scratch. That’s why the PPV after ‘Mania is usually so similar, I think. That doesn’t bother me too much since the four feuds you list all had their first match at WrestleMania. The idea that WrestleMania is a feud-ender is antiquated and hasn’t been true for a while.

Sat: Here’s the thing with HBK/Taker II. I want to hold judgment on it until I see it again. It did seem a little bit like the first match though. As for feud continuing past Mania, my view is that if the pay per view after WrestleMania does good buys, then the WWE should stick with what they are doing.

Guest#4777 Writes:

Low Road: Only because Mania did not live up to the build. Im sure in 10 years, young fans may watch vids of it and love it, but for the time being — the show felt like a let down.

Chad Nevett: Taken alone and apart from the hype, I have no doubt this WrestleMania will seem better than it does right now. A big part of why people don’t like it as much is because, going in, it seemed like it would be fantastic and it was merely very good.

Sat: I think looking back, the only thing that will be remember is Bret getting revenge on Vince and Shawn Michaels retiring.

gooched Writes:

high road defiantly, people expect way too much from a WrestleMania nowadays, and as much as id love to have WrestleMania x7’s every year, I’m just glad it improved on last year hideous shows, nothing was too embarrassing (saying a lot considering a lot of crap that’s taken place in WrestleMania in the past) there were some good matches, and one real classic match with a major WrestleMania moment in the end, all in all i think it was a success, there were some real flaws that could have made it one of the best WrestleMania ever, but it was overall a solid show well worth its title. You would have had to WATCH it to enjoy it, not read about it, you cant judge it by reading a recap.

Chad Nevett: Very true. Also, WrestleMania has a history of being one or two classic matches, a few very good ones, and then a whole lot of filler. Some have risen above that, but not many.

Sat: This was definitely a better pay per view than last year’s, that’s for sure.

Spaz Monkey Writes:

I’ve said this elsewhere, and I’ll repeat it here —

I think Edge came back too soon. He wasn’t the Edge we all love to see in the ring. He just wasn’t there. Jericho had to carry him more than anyone expected, and that hurt the match. Hopefully Edge will be allowed to heal more before being put into more 1 on 1 matches.

Chad Nevett: I think he was a little off, but not that much. Also, I think, like Jericho, Edge performs best against guys he’s worked with for a little bit. This was their first match in a long time and, to deliver a fantastic match, they really needed to have worked together more directly leading up to it. The desire to keep things fresh by not having them meet in the ring before ‘Mania hurt the match. If they get to keep feuding (as who knows how Swagger alters things), I have a feeling their second match will be better than the one at ‘Mania and their third will be better than their second.

Sat: I thought Edge looked okay, but the thing I will admit is that he has not been the same since he came back.

Guest#7363 Writes:

High road, but just.

Lumping this with the following RAW:
Seeing Shawn Michaels last match and retirement. What a way to go. This did not disappoint.
We, as fans, got to see the closure and healing with Bret Hart. Yeah, it wasn’t a great match, but it was the PPV manifestation of Vince’s apology. Say what you will about the man, but he is not afraid to look the fool. How many other owners would have always tried to look like the face or all conquering hero?
We also got to see Bret praise Shawn. The match seemed to show his family burying the hatchet.
The Hart Dynasty is getting some push out of this.

The negatives are obvious. If you aren’t going to take the women’s division seriously, why have titles? Why waste time with matches? They could get a PPV check and we could get some skin if they were just valets.
Some matches needed more time, some seemed like they should be at the beginning of a program and not the “season ending” PPV.

So overall a high road.

Chad Nevett: I was thinking something similar about Divas being used as valets to get them on the show without wasting time with a useless match. I would love to see the sole Divas match feature two of the women who can really wrestle and let them actually put on a good match. Hopefully, the Hart Dynasty getting pushed means Natalya will get back into the mix with the Divas… and get a chance to actually wrestle.

Sat: My main problem with the divas division is Michelle McCool; seems like the division has been getting worse with her at the top.

Fan since 1988 Writes:

High High High

All 3 main events delivered.

I have no clue why people wanted the Bret/Vince match to be 30 seconds. It wasn’t about Bret winning. EVERYONE knew he was going to win. It was about Bret kicking Vince’s ass. And as someone who has been a fan of WWF/E since the original Screwjob, IT. WAS. GLORIOUS.

Chad Nevett: IT. WAS. TOO. LONG. Since the conclusion was foregone, it came down to execution and the execution was poor. The angle with the Hart family didn’t work and the beat down was too long. It should have been Bret beating him up for a few minutes and winning. Not 30 seconds, but not as long as it was.

Sat: Let’s say you have been screwed and did not get a chance for revenge for 13 years. When you do, are you going to end it in 30 seconds, a few minutes? No, you are going to keep the pounding going for at least ten minutes and that is what Bret did.

The Great Capt. Smooth Writes:

Both roads, leaning high. Even the bad had some good. Punk/Rey was good during time it had. I can imagine what the tag match could have been built to, if given the time. We got a Hart Dynasty face turn.(When was the last WM face turn?) While some didn’t care for Kofi’s stilts act, it got the crowd buzzing and they got louder the closer he got to the case. Even the divas match had the Eddie tribute. We all know about the good(HBK/Taker, HHH/Sheamus, Y2J/Edge, Cena/Batista, Cena sticking it to the haters) Speaking of that, why are so many people shocked by how good that match was? They have been having good matches for years. It’s time certain people give them the enough credit to say they are GOOD wrestlers.

Chad Nevett: Cena and Batista are good — when they’re on. Neither is great and, given their positions, people seem to want them to be great. I like both guys and they delivered the quality of match I expected.

Sat: The best outcome for WrestleMania was definitely the Hart Dynasty turning.

Guest#2809 Writes:

Easy High Road.

The main event was a near 5 star match and both World title matches were around the 4 star mark. The fact that the 3 biggest matches on the card delivered in such a big way and there’s still so much negativity shows how ridiculously high the expectations for Wrestlemania have gotten over the years.

Chad Nevett: I agree. I think people expected a lot from the Punk/Mysterio match and that it was so short left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. That looked like the undercard’s Match of the Night and it wasn’t for reasons that had nothing to do with the two performers, and that’s frustrating. But, yeah, the main events all delivered and that’s something.

Sat: Main events did deliver and that is probably why the show was not like last years.

Squid Vicious Writes:

I did not have any problem with this year’s Mania other than this. Michaels and ‘Taker was a good RAW match at best and the rest of the card seems to have been told to hold back so as to not overshadow that match.

Chad Nevett: Wow, that’s an opinion I’d yet to hear.

Sat: Wow, Taker and Michaels as a RAW match. I must not be watching the same RAW you are watching.

Truth Writes:

High Road for WM26

As for the Bret/Vince ‘match’, it was never going to be more than what it was.

Bret beat the shit out of Vince for 10 minutes as payback for the over decade long feud.

I have a feeling the only reason people didn’t like it is because the crowd in Phoenix didn’t seem to care.

If the live crowd went apeshit for every chairshot, everyone in the IWC would have loved it….

Chad Nevett: I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t take my cues from the live crowds as to what I like/dislike. My problems with the match come from the match itself, not the crowd not liking it.

Sat: The first few rows were standing, so that was a good thing. Sure, it was not like Rock/Hogan and HBK/Taker from last year, but it was still okay.

Guest#4391 Writes:

Both Roads

The disappointment that was Punk/Mysterio and the Tag Title match (and to a lesser degree MitB) are too much for even the other solid stuff to make me forget about. This was a strong show in my opinion and had a solid build, but just did not hit the mark across the board.

Chad Nevett: Indeed. And that, heading in, it looked like it could be great across the board is what hurts it.

Sat: I agree with your disappointments.

Guest#6205 Writes:

Both roads
6 minutes for Punk vs Rey, 3 minutes for the tagteam title match, 12 minutes for Sheamus vs Triple H, and 12 minutes for the triple threat. I know Orton has somehow got super over and Sheamus is fucking Triple H, who in turn is fucking the boss’s daughter but this is still just baffling. Sheamus is a disgrace and proved once again he has no place on TV. Going in the WWE knew this and still gave the match way too much time which should have just been a quick squash match for Triple H. Legacy are dull as dishwater and there didn’t seem to be a single person in the arena that believed they were winning so they might as well get squashed too and then either rebuilt later or ideally released. No question all this wasted time should have gone to the tagteam match which could have been much better and Punk vs Rey which could have stolen the show given more time. I almost wonder if the reason they didn’t get any time was because the WWE was worried they might steal the spotlight from what might be Shawn Michaels’s last match, but with that match closing the show the WWE really shouldn’t have had any reason to hold back on giving matches which actually had a chance to be good time. And don’t even get me started on all the time wasted in the WWE championship shit fest that saw two terrible wrestlers squabbling over a supposed important championship that neither one of them deserved.

All that said the PPV did feel like a big deal and not just another PPV, MitB and Jericho vs Edge were great and Michaels vs Taker was fantastic, although given who seemed to be suffering in that match didn’t the wrong guy retire?

Chad Nevett: Sheamus is slowly growing on me. I don’t buy him as a main event-level guy yet, but he’s not as bad as I thought he was earlier in the year. His match with Triple H shows that he has skills and can deliver when he needs to. More than that, it showed that he can take punishment, which is something they hadn’t really shown as much by booking him in matches where he either squashes the guy or escapes via DQ or countout.

Sat: I would have been fine with Triple H and Sheamus getting less time, but obviously that was not going to happen. Everybody is complaining about Bret/Vince getting a lot of time, but nobody is saying anything about HHH/Sheamus.

TWITTER

http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma
http://www.twitter.com/satuncletrunx
http://www.twitter.com/cnevett

Your reasons for taking the High Road, Low Road, or Both Roads and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road are welcome at [email protected] or in the comment section. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.