Jack Swagger On Who Came Up With “We The People” And Why He Turned Down A WWE Contract

Jack Swagger is no longer a member of the WWE roster. Swagger wrestled for WWE for 10 years, but a few months ago the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion decided that it was time for him to move on and do something else.

Swagger recently spoke to the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling about his WWE departure, and he says that WWE wanted him to stay with the company for another 5 years, but the two sides couldn’t agree on money.

“The main thing was my contract wasn’t up until January ’18 and they picked up an option (which they only had the option for) I didn’t have any control over it and they picked it up and extended it for another year. The timing of when they did that was when they took Dutch (Zeb Colter) away from me and put him with Alberto, so it was kind of like a two-fold punch in the face. About six months after that I felt like I needed to renegotiate and it was now the brand split again and moving me back to Smackdown, so I was thinking maybe we are going to do something and for whatever reason they didn’t like me over there so I said lets push the contract negotiations. Pretty much they told me that I deserved a raise and they wanted to sign me for another five years and into my 40s. What they were offering and what I had averaged over the decade that I had worked for them was way off. So after ten years with the company, I needed a change and like I said earlier I need to journey out and become the best professional wrestler I can but also I needed a change to make them miss me and want me back. I need to make them want me and the main thing is they were not growing my brand anymore. Bottom line. It happens and you can get angry about it but it is all business and it is all dollars. I was angry for a long time but once this all came down and I looked at it as a business decision so I understood their side, understood my side and we left on good terms and it is just something we had to do. I look forward to getting out there and showing everyone ALL of the Jack Swagger brand not just what they wanted to show you guys.”

Jack Swagger managed to capture the ECW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship on his own, but his career really reached a new level when he was paired up with Dutch Mantell, aka Zeb Colter.

Together the duo made quite the pair and they won audiences over by asking them to say “We The People” in a loud clear voice. Swagger also shared the story of how “We The People” came together and he credits Dutch for adding it to their act.

“I came up with the t-shirt and was trying to sell it to WWE for the longest time and I just had it made myself and I wore it on the Money In The Bank pay per view and literally as soon as I came back through the curtain the entire merchandise department was there waiting for me and headquarters had called them and they wanted the shirt made. That is how that came about and it is good advice for anyone listening that is still in there. Go ahead and make the shirt you want made and wear it on TV and they will want it. The “We The People” is such a cool story. We just so happened to be in Nashville where Dutch lives a couple of weeks after the Elimination Chamber where I beat Randy to go on to WrestleMania with Alberto. They were looking for a mouthpiece for me and they say I can’t talk (but I think I am doing just fine) so being in Nashville and I think it was Hunter’s idea to bring him in and they had Dutch do a couple of promos on video and would play it for Vince later in the day. He did one or two and on the third one he added in “We The People” at the end and everybody when he said that to close it were like; “WOW”. When he said it, it was just one of those moments where you get goosebumps and it was just something that Dutch and his brilliant mind had just thrown in there and event though he didn’t say it in the first two promos he said it in that third one and when Vince watched it he said that’s my guy. So you can add “We The People” to the long list of brilliant things that Dutch has come up with.”