Jack Swagger was granted his release from WWE back in March and after spending a few months wrestling on the independent circuit, he's now about to make the leap into the world of MMA.
Before debuting in Ballator, though, Swagger (a.k.a. Jack Hagar) is doing the rounds with the press and has now revealed that he actually approached Vince McMahon shortly before he was released with the suggestion that he be allowed to take part in a legit fight. Unfortunately, McMahon - who isn't a fan of MMA and UFC in particular - quickly shot down Swagger's quite inventive idea.
"For the longest time there, I felt like I was literally the toughest guy in the locker room. Yet, I would go out there and have two-minute matches with guys that couldn’t hold my jock. It even got to the point where I pitched to them, I was like, ‘Look, I got something to prove. You guys are a great platform. Let me prove it. Pick the fighter — I’ll fight anybody. Put them on your show and I’ll fight them.’ They didn’t really want to go down that route.
"Let’s do something different, along those lines. I don’t know if they just didn’t believe in my abilities, but now we’re here to show it. It’s crazy. Stuff like that always happens and it just got pushed to the side and I was like, Alright, well I’m still here. I’m gonna go do it. It’s a great opportunity that I’m gonna take advantage of."
It's easy to see why WWE didn't go for this idea (what if Swagger had been beaten?) but the company could easily have repackaged the former WWE Champion as opposed to making him a glorified jobber. Regardless, he's now working for a legit MMA company and like CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, and Batista before him, he now has the opportunity to finally prove himself in that world.