It's common to see longtime WWE Superstars and fan favorites walk away from the company after years with the professional wrestling juggernaut, and after their departure, it's always the same story - they never had creative freedom with the promotion.
That remains the case with recently-released former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger, who requested his release from the company earlier this year after failed contract negotiations. Swagger took to Chael Sonnen's podcast, You're Welcome, and announced that he had requested for his release with the WWE. It was granted two days later.
Since then, Swagger has been enjoying life as an independent wrestler and even defeated fellow former WWE Superstar Alberto El Patron (a.k.a Alberto Del Rio in WWE) during a show in Mexico last month.
Recently, "The All American" joined the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast to discuss his time with the WWE and his departure from the promotion. One topic that Swagger touched on was the lack of creative freedom he was given during the height of his 'We The People' gimmick alongside Dutch Mantell (Zeb Colter in WWE).
Swagger stated that the WWE tried to pull the rug out from under the gimmick on multiple occasions, something that frustrated him greatly (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):
"It wasn't the tipping point, it was just another thing added on to the long list of the same thing of where it is very hard to get momentum going and it is even harder to be natural like "We The People" had become.
"We The People" was transforming into a whole different climate and it was no longer a political movement it was simply a movement for the people and it was not more evident than when I went out of the country and went to Mexico and these were the very people we spoke of so harshly and they would stand up and say "We The People".
"It was such a cool movement and it transformed so naturally and they tried to cut it off on so many levels but it kept coming back.
"They took Cesaro away from The Real Americans and tried to cut off "We The People", we turned baby face, we wrestle a Russian, we have one of the biggest match ups of the year and one of the biggest matches of my career against Rusev and I turned baby face instantly over night.
"That is "We The People". After that, nothing and they cut the legs out from it again.
"I am not complaining because I am very grateful for the ten year career I had and that is way above average but it is just another thing because it is not my company and I don't make the business decisions but one thing that Dutch always said about these types of things that I always took to heart was; "You can either do it or you can go start your own wrestling promotion."
"So when you put it like that it puts it in perspective."
What are your thoughts about Swagger's lack of creative freedom with the "We The People" gimmick? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!
Check it out via this link. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-all-the-fallout-from-wwe-payback