WWE | Pro Wrestling

Jack Swagger Arrested For DUI and Pot Possession

By Eric G.

Posted on February 20, 2013

In what may go down as one of the biggest blunders by a WWE star in history, Jack Swagger was arrested for DUI and pot Tuesday night after the SmackDown taping. Most are predicting that Swagger’s days in a WrestleMania 29 main-event are numbered.

Shockwaves and a lot of laughter hit the wrestling social media world after TMZ.com broke the story on Wednesday afternoon. Just the idea of a guy who has floundered for years would make such a huge mistake just as he was beginning his biggest career push is both sad and pathetic.

“According to law enforcement, the officer who pulled him over determined Swagger was driving under the influence — and a search revealed Swagger was in possession of marijuana.”

Not only do I think Swagger’s spot in the WWE world heavyweight championship match at WrestleMania is numbered, I also think his job could be on the line. The WWE react to DUIs and arrests differently for everyone. As infuriated as Vince McMahon probably is with the timing, I wouldn’t be shocked if he outright fired Swagger.

The incident is indefensible. I have been a big Swagger fan for awhile and have always thrown his name out there as one of the most misused guys in the WWE. I would have no problem at this point with the WWE stopping his push. At some point you have to be responsible as a human being and if you can’t keep yourself under control now after waiting years for this kind of a push, I think there are bigger problems with Swagger than just this arrest.

I would look for Dolph Ziggler to somehow wind up with the WWE world heavyweight title shot or match in place of Swagger. Nothing of this sort has been reported, but this is just a gut instinct based on how these cases were treated in the past. Rob Van Dam was beaten for his ECW title and never received even close to the same monster push he had when he was arrested. History dictates that Swagger is likely to face some kind of punishment.

The guy I really feel sorry for is Dutch Mantell. Mantell lucked into a fantastic spot as a top heel manager in the WWE thanks to Swagger’s new anti-immigration gimmick. It has been decades since Dutch got a run with a national company, unless you count his behind the scenes work in TNA Wrestling. Roles like this don’t come along often and I am afraid that the WWE will have no use for Dutch if they choose to punish Swagger. I just hope they offer him at least some kind of behind the scenes role as opposed to outright cutting him.

Monday Night RAW is going to be very interesting.

Eric G.

Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.