Former All Elite Wrestling star Jake Hager offered an unfiltered look at why he walked away from professional wrestling. During his appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the
“Absolutely. I’m very jaded from my exit at AEW… I wish I would have just stayed in MMA.”
Hager confirmed he’s done, and doesn’t even watch pro wrestling anymore.
“Retired, baby. Hall of Fame. I think for me, like, I had accomplished everything that I really cared about and wanted to move on.”
AEW Backstage Drama and CM Punk Fallout
Hager offered a unique perspective on AEW’s backstage environment during the young promotion’s most tumultuous chapter.
“After all the Punk [stuff] that went down, the boys got together and we had a meeting… No office, right? …Who comes into the room, storming in, daddy’s little billionaire and he’s like yelling at us… We became his little play things. We had to wait outside his office. His storylines were very good at debuting, but he could never carry anything through. …He couldn’t take criticism.”
In hindsight, he wishes he would have been more outspoken when he disagreed with Khan’s booking approach.
“I still to this day wish I would have stood up and said a lot of things, but you just told Sting you’re putting him in a six-man in 6 minutes, then honor him for his retirement…”
Hager Declares Chris Jericho as The G.O.A.T.
Hager’s AEW run was closely linked to Chris Jericho, and was one of the highlights of his time as an ‘All Elite’ athlete. He loved sitting under The Learning Tree, and marvels at Jericho’s ability to succeed in this unique field.
“Chris Jericho is the reason why that purple hat was so over. …He’s number one on my Mount Rushmore.”
These insights shed a revealing light on AEW’s inner workings from a veteran’s perspective.