It’s been 15 years since Jack Swagger made his debut in WWE, beginning a career which many fans would generously call “mixed”.
If you like at his championship victories, Jack Swagger has a trophy cabinet to match any other. He is a former World Champion, a former ECW Champion and even became Mr Money in the Bank at one point.
This is more titles than some WWE Hall of Famers. The likes of Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts would kill for his title history.
However, Jack Swagger’s WWE run was not quite as great as the stats make it look, and it would be very shocking to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame one day (especially after his AEW run).
His WWE career began in 2008, as one of the first young stars to come through the ECW brand after their horrible rebrand.
Jack Swagger’s WWE Debut
Jack Swagger made his WWE debut on the September 9th, 2008 episode of ECW.
He was brought up from FCW as one of their hottest prospects, and a personal hire by WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross.
With an amateur wrestling background and being a University of Oklahoma Alumni, he was the perfect athlete for JR to latch onto, and to this day he considers him a huge talent.
Jack Swagger debuted with an unfamiliar look. He walked out in black trunks and boots, a far cry from his usual colorful singlets.
Dubbed “The All-American American”, Swagger wrestled his first WWE match against local jobber Josh Daniels. This was during a time when every ECW star debuted with a match against a local wrestler, showcasing their skills in the ring to a new audience.
He won his debut in quick fashion, with the match lasting a little over two minutes. Swagger showcased his amateur wrestling skills with some technical wrestling, as well as hitting some big power moves on the unfortunate jobber.
Jack Swagger won his WWE debut by pinning Josh Daniels with a version of the Blue Thunder Bomb, a move he would not use very often going forward in his career.
Swagger would quickly rise up the ranks in ECW, winning the ECW Championship not long after his debut.
He would go on to win the Money in the Bank briefcase and the World Heavyweight Championship in the WWE, prior to his release in 2017.
Swagger would go on to sign for AEW in 2019, making his debut on the first ever episode of AEW Dynamite.
He rebranded himself as Jake Hager, and quickly became the muscle for Chris Jericho in his Inner Circle faction.