Jason Jordan rose to prominence in WWE as half of American Alpha with Chad Gable. Together, they took the NXT tag team division by storm, then enjoyed some successes on SmackDown. Things took a sharp turn, however, when Jordan broke out as a singles star and looked positioned for big things until a neck injury derailed his in ring career. Even though he has become a highly successful backstage producer WWE, the question remains: what might have been for him if the hand’t gotten hurt?
The Kurt Angle Rub
The first major signal WWE had big plans for Jason Jordan was when the company positioned him as Kurt Angle’s kayfabe son. The pairing made reasonable enough sense Jordan’s amateur pedigree and an at least passing resemblance between the two.
Not everyone loved this storyline, though. After all, in modern times, fans are much more cognizant of real life family relationships and arguably too jaded to accept purely fictitious links along these lines. So, Angle and Jordan's story was never going to rank among the greatest family storylines in WWE history. Accordingly, Jordan endured his share of boos despite mostly portraying a babyface character, as fans rejected the vehicle for pushing him, as well as Jordan himself as an unproven young star.
Still, the Angle storyline was high profile enough for Jordan to realistically enjoy long-term career advancement over it. WWE could always return to Angle as a de facto manager and mouthpiece for him, or else in time set up a feud between them (or perhaps Jordan vs. an Angle proxy). Such storylines could readily position Jordan to credibly challenge for a world title.
The Seth Rollins Feud
Jason Jordan spent the last stretch of his in ring career working with Seth Rollins. The two were situated as uneasy tag team partners, with strong hints that they would openly feud with one another in time (including rumors of a collison at WrestleMania 34).
If there’s one wrestler all but guaranteed to give someone his best match in the modern era, its Rollins. Jordan was no slouch in the ring himself, and it's not hard to imagine him stealing the show with The Architect at WrestleMania. Before this storyline joined the list of feuds that ended early due to a real life injury, it's believable it would have set up a series matches that elevated Jordan. Whether he would win the title coming out of it, be a Money in the Bank beneficiary, or otherwise work his way up the ladder from there, the writing was on the wall that Jordan would be in the conversation for a top five spot on either brand.
Jason Jordan Had All Of The Tools
Fans didn’t give Jason Jordan the warmest reception when he was first pronounced to be Kurt Angle’s son. However, WWE seemed to have struck a good balance in Jordan edging subtly heel with a whiny, entitled edge to his character.
In making that transition, Jordan underscored his ability to play a character in a way he hadn’t shown on screen up to that point. Combine that with his look, his technical ability, his power and his athleticism, and Jordan really did seem to have all of the tools WWE was looking for in a top-level star. Maybe he wouldn’t have thrived as a world champion, but it seems likely WWE would have at least given him a try in the spot.
Chad Gable Might Have Benefited Too
Chad Gable has struggled ever since the American Alpha split. He has had other good tag team runs with Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Roode, and most recently Otis, but each seems to get cut off before it can realize its potential. While Gable remains among the best respected pure wrestlers on the main roster, he hasn’t enjoyed much by way of championships or accolades to reward those abilities.
In having been Jason Jordan’s first and most famous tag team partner on the main roster, Gable would have remained linked to Jordan. Maybe WWE would have revisited the partnership. Maybe Gable would have been set up as a victim for Jordan’s rivals to target. Perhaps the two would eventually have feuded with one another. In any case, the result remains that Gable would likely have a more featured role to return to time and again, and a fundamentally different position on the roster.
We’ll never know how Jason Jordan’s WWE run would have played out had he not been injured. Even if he were to return to the ring, it feels like the time has long passed for his momentum and ability to get a truly top tier push. If he had been able to remain active, however, we may well have captured at least one world championship.