During the interview Swagger also touched on a variety of other issues. You can view the entire article by clicking HERE
Some of the transcribed quotes from the article are available below:
VJ: Let’s talk about you for a couple of minutes. You’ve been back on television the last couple of weeks after being off for a while. How does it feel to be back in the fold as far as the television aspect?
Swagger: It’s always exciting. When a character is exposed to weekly live television shows, it’s sometimes necessary to be off for a little bit and reboot and just come back fresh in the minds of our audience. Coming back is exciting. Hopefully, we can build a nice run into a championship title maybe going into WrestleMania, have a good showing at the [Royal] Rumble. It’s a fun time of year to come back because every show from here on out is going to have a heightened importance to it because, believe it or not, WrestleMania is just around the corner.
VJ: What is it like for you when you take that break from television and you’re at all of the shows, but you’re not doing much — at least on television? Does it get nerve-racking, or are you just biding your time?
Swagger: Well, it’s kind of the yin and yang. You want to be proactive in taking care of your body, so any time off is definitely helpful to your career and for the company. We’re very spur-of-the-moment. We like to keep our fans on the edge of their seat so it does get tough at times, but we have trust in each other. We have a great set of guys up here that we get to work with. I think that’s what it comes down to; it’s how well we work together.
VJ: Speaking of the guys, how do you feel about having Alberto Del Rio back on the roster and inserted right back into a feud with you?
Swagger: Alberto Del Rio is an incredible talent. He’s an incredible superstar. I think he has gotten better since the last time he was here. I see a big difference in the way he handles himself, the way he’s wrestling and just a general look about him. It’s going to be a big test. Him and I have a lot of history together. We know each other very well. I’m definitely going to have to raise my level of competition in order to come out successful against him.
Now, we’ve got a big chairs match for the United States championship coming up at TLC. Adding an x-factor like a chair into the mix is really going to change the outlook.
VJ: A lot of the talk around WWE is the number of guys who have gone down with significant injuries, specifically Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. What is that like when a guy gets seriously injured?
Swagger: You know, no matter how technically sound a superstar is, injuries are going to happen. The physicality is very real inside that ring, and it’s a part of the sport. It just reinforces the fact that we need a great medical squad so we can actively take care of our bodies and prevent pain becoming actual injuries or much worse.
For Seth Rollins, to his credit, that man is a tough one — still being able to power-bomb Glenn [Jacobs, aka Kane] after that.
VJ: What does that do to the locker room when a couple of guys get hurt, especially when it’s big-name guys? Does it change the mood at all?
Swagger: I’ve been in this locker room and on this roster for almost 10 years now, and I can say that the group of guys that we have is beyond good. We understand what the overarching goals are, and everyone does a good job of working together toward them and not for selfish means. So when an injury goes down, it’s an opportunity for someone who [WWE] maybe didn’t have time for to step up.
Our roster is so deep. It has so much talent and it’s so diversified that you really can excel when something like this happens.
VJ: How much do injuries cross your mind or do you not think about it, as thinking about could get you hurt?
Swagger: I always go by the old rule — and this is coming from playing sports all my life — of to go full speed. When you don’t go full speed or when you’re thinking about getting hurt, that’s when it does happen and most likely it’s on the smaller things like a baseball slide where you get a severe high ankle sprain or something. The bigger injuries are less and it’s just one of those things where you just have to prepare yourself for each and every match the same way and go out there and perform at that level and hope for the best.
