Nov 06 2009
What Can Eve Do For Jack Swagger?
How far will the WWE go with the angle between Eve and Jack Swagger? Will it end up like so many romances of the past few years which end awkwardly and do not really do anything for the main diva and superstar involved? I want Eve to be treated fairly. I would like to see her wrestling ability and character fostered to improvement, not wasted like so many other models who join the WWE just to become a pain in the neck to credible wrestlers. Jack Swagger has been growing on me since his first real push in ECW. With all his amateur credentials, he should be big one day. Question still is, what will happen when you bring these two together?
Some may be able to see similarities between Jack Swagger and Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle won many titles within just his first year in the WWE, including his first World title reign. If you consider the ECW title a World title, Jack Swagger has that one thing in common with Angle for sure. If you do not, and many do not, Jack Swagger was still treated as the top heel of ECW fairly early in his career. Big fish in a small pond? Maybe. And he has not had that main-event push since coming to Raw. Among the many things Kurt Angle had to build him up as a main-eventer, a female manager was one of them. That would be Stephanie McMahon. Did Angle really need her? Could he have gotten to the top any other way? You can decide that for yourself. Fact is, Stephanie was used with Kurt Angle. Can Eve do the same thing for Swagger now? The answer is obviously no. Eve is not Stephanie McMahon. No diva on Raw can do for Swagger what Stephanie McMahon was meant to do for Kurt Angle. That is why Eve will not help Swagger get into the main-event scene. He can still be paired with her and end up in the main event through feuds with Cena or DX, but it would not be because Eve is giving him an additional rub up the card.
Eve is not really in the midst of anything great, aside from this angle that started with Miz and Swagger. So for her, it is obviously a good thing to pair her up with Jack Swagger. She gets an angle to keep her talked about. Her character has the potential to be built. Depending on how far this thing goes, she may even tag up with Swagger. You may have more diva matches outside the title picture, which is always good. Would that mean Eve would have to turn heel? That is a whole other issue. I have said before that Raw needs more heel divas. There is potential for Gail to turn, but then the possibility of Eve turning as well? I do not see it happening, but this is an example of how an angle like this keeps Eve somewhat interesting. Will she turn heel? Will she go out with Swagger? Will this lead to a title push for her? She can slowly be built up to be a diva of importance.
Jack Swagger does not need Eve. He was not the one with nothing to do. The WWE was working an angle where Swagger vowed never to be defeated for the rest of the year. They could have continued to play that. Then again, how many more times can Swagger beat up Evan Bourne and Primo? Not enough jobbers. The WWE could have still pushed that momentum with a few high-profile wins, culminating in a title shot against John Cena. Of course, that is where Swagger gets all his momentum killed by losing to Cena. It has happened before. If not that, the WWE could have really pushed some kind of feud between Swagger and Miz, and possibly Evan Bourne. Point is, there are men for Swagger to feud with. He does not need a diva. So what can Eve do for him? Possibly just try to make his own character seem a certain way to the WWE fans. I spoke about this before with the Maria/Ziggler romance. I honestly do not feel Swagger needs it. I was liking his goofy character. That is just me. The WWE likes their men to have hard abs without steroids and their women to look like toothpicks with grapes pasted right next to each other on them. Picture it. Point is, they are in a generic age where most of their younger talent is so much the same. I will not go off with that rant. In the WWE’s thinking, Eve may just help Swagger seem more like the character they want.
I liked the potential of Ziggler/Maria. I will admit that Ryder/Rosa provided for an amusing segment this week. I am glad that Swagger/Eve is giving something to a diva to possibly get over. What is my problem. First, quantity. It is just getting overdone a bit now. All these romance angles seem to be popping up for the same reasons. A diva has nothing to do. A young wrestler on his way up may be able to use a hot woman by his side. A romance angle is born. It gets dull fast. The story of a diva starting out as a backstage interviewer, but then branching out into the ring, that may be very interesting if done right. When it is done with every new eye-candy diva, it loses the appeal. That is how I am feeling now. These romance angles are just losing their appeal if they get pushed so easily all over the place. Second, quality. These angles are basically further making these women generic. They are all hot women who date wrestlers and then randomly break up. Aside from special instances like Edge/Vickie (and Vickie is not a typical diva anyway), there have been virtually no romance angles that went anywhere for years now. Santino/Beth is one of the few exceptions. In the typical case, however, the romance fails to get away from segments well enough and get into the ring. It does not help the diva move up the card. Cena/Mickie could have easily done that for Mickie James, it did not. Kane/Kelly/Orton was killed off before it got really good. And I will not even talk about Festus/Maria. The WWE really needs to push these relationships into the ring. I doubt Swagger/Eve will get there, but I am still glad Eve is getting the angle.
