Wrestling has witnessed a lot of unfortunate cases when it comes to careers being cut short through injury. Whether it be legends of the business such as Bret Hart and Steve Austin, or promising names like Paige, the wrestling world and specifically WWE has seen its fair share of early retirements. One recent and devastating case is with Jason Jordan, whose career looked to be gaining some real momentum before he was sidelined with a neck injury that resulted in surgery, and subsequently led to an all but confirmed retirement. If he hadn’t suffered his injury, then Jordan’s future could have been full of success.
Jason Jordan Was Only Just Getting Started In WWE
After being scouted through his amateur wrestling success, Jordan signed with WWE developmental all the way back in 2011, starting out in FCW before moving with the transition to NXT. Jordan was courted by Chad Gable to form a tag team, and they would become American Alpha – one of the most popular teams in NXT history, with undeniable chemistry. They did all their talking in the ring, with them each being great in-ring talents. Gable may have been more gifted, but Jordan had an explosive arsenal in his own right.
They climbed the ranks to become NXT Tag Team Champions, before eventually being drafted over to Smackdown in 2016. Momentum was running thin due to a lack of consistent booking, even when they won the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. They perhaps won the gold too soon, as a long journey would’ve better suited their babyface characters. After just around a year on the main roster, WWE made the call to draft them away from one another, with Jordan set for a major singles push on Raw.
After a damning secret had been teased regarding Kurt Angle, Jordan was revealed to be the storyline son of Angle. Whilst it was a little ridiculous, it spoke volumes of highly WWE viewed Jordan as a future star, giving him the rub of being associated with Angle. It was certainly an uphill battle to get this gimmick over, due to it being difficult for fans to suspend their disbelief, but WWE tried their best to help establish Jordan as a solo star, giving him long and extended matches against some of the top names on the brand like Roman Reigns, The Miz, and Seth Rollins. After a while, the experiment began to work.
Seeds Of A Heel Turn Were Growing For Jason Jordan
Jordan’s in-ring talents were never in question, but a happy-go-lucky babyface character is also tough to get over, and that was the case with Jordan, who didn’t quite connect on promos. Even during a Tag Team Title run with Seth Rollins, the fans weren’t on board with him. Then came some elements of a change in his character, which saw a slight change in attitude, becoming cockier and more arrogant, hiding it with a big cheesy grin – similar to how a goofy heel Kurt Angle worked wonders early in his career.
The seeds of a full heel turn were in place, and he was fitting into this role much easier. Being the entitled son of a Hall of Famer was a recipe to garner a lot of heat, and the slow-burn style of the build was being executed perfectly by WWE. Eventually, a turn on Seth Rollins, perhaps even setting up a WrestleMania match, looked to be on the cards. A marquee match of this magnitude, followed up by a potential midcard title reign or Money in the Bank victory was a strong possibility, as well as an inevitable feud with Kurt Angle down the line, likely in a retirement match. However, everything came crashing down.
An Injury Has Seemingly Put An End To Jordan’s In-Ring Career
Jordan suffered from an injury, was quickly written off TV, and has yet to return to action since – and that was four years ago. He has since found himself in a producer role, similar to that of also-retired Tyson Kidd, keeping within the business, although it is certainly a shame that he isn’t on the other side of the curtain. WWE clearly had a lot of plans for Jordan, with it being almost certain that WrestleMania 35 would’ve seen him topple Angle.
Whether or not WWE was going to continue the narrative of Jordan being Angle’s son, or if it would’ve turned out to be a ruse, is uncertain, but either way, Jordan as a cocky young heel was set to be very entertaining, and a fresh face in the upper midcard or even main event would’ve been welcomed once fans had gotten over the peculiar storyline. His potential was clear, and he was set for big things, and one can hope that another wrestling miracle occurs that would see him return in the future.