Apparently, Jake Hager didn’t sign the same non-disclosure-type agreement that Cody Rhodes (probably) did when he left All Elite Wrestling. Or, if the wrestler formerly known as Jack Swagger in the WWE did have any kind of deal to keep quiet about his time with AEW, it must have expired recently.
Because we’re hearing Hager shoot on AEW, and specifically its president/booker Tony Khan, for the second time in two days.
His next stop was Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge with Chris Featherstone, Dutch Mantell and Bill Apter. On that show, Hager said he was “blessed” to get “17 years non-stop on TV”, but… “To get to the end of that career and have someone like Tony Khan, who has been in this business for a cup of coffee, and doesn’t really know — he can’t make himself a sandwich, let alone write a storyline that will last. He can spend a lot of money and make a big debut and make a lot of fireworks, but in the end…”
Hager says others contribute, but confirmed that all final booking decisions are Khan’s: “Absolutely. There are ‘yes men’ that help him write his storylines, but there is no one there that can tell him no.”
He said things took a turn for the worse in 2022, when Cody Rhodes left due to his own “personal issues” at AEW. His account of that time also includes a tidbit about TK’s relationship with Chris Jericho that may explain why it seems Jericho is likely to follow Rhodes back to WWE next year: “I think everything changed after [Cody] left because he was involved with it and after that, it just kind of became a free-for-all. Young Bucks and Kenny still had a big say in what they were doing. Chris obviously still had a big say in what he was doing, but even Chris, he would tell me that Tony would not respond to his messages for like two weeks.
“It became a point where either AEW is important or it’s not. It just seemed like it was not to him. They stopped doing production meetings. They stopped doing anything to make the show timely. We would be waiting around to 5 p.m. to find out what we were doing that day. What live television show does that? Only one with money behind it.”
Asked why AEW doesn’t have a writer’s room the way WWE does, Hager replied: “You know why? Because this is [TK’s] toy box and nobody else can play with his toys but him. It’s so mind-blowing.
”Tony himself will always talk about, ‘I have so many businesses. I have a soccer club in England. I have this other business.’ Either AEW is important or it’s not. Put some fucking attention on it. Don’t make us wait until 5 p.m. to know what we’re doing that day.
“You’ve been in this business for a cup of coffee, you have no idea what you’re doing, and you can’t admit that you’re making mistakes. Admit that you’re making mistakes and then people can work with you. Other than that, if you want to act like you’re holier than thou and you know everything is perfect in pro wrestling, okay, good luck.“
He also circled back to his relationship with Jericho, and a offered a few more common Tony Khan complaints that sound familiar to anyone who is or knows an AEW critic… “The only reason why I got signed with AEW is because of Chris Jericho, so I’m very thankful for that. Tony wanted nothing to do with me because I was from the fed and he’s an indie darling guy, and I dare you to argue with me about that. He wants flips and hamburgers and hot dogs and not storylines.”
