Jake Hager spent over a decade in WWE and he is now part of the upstart promotion AEW where he stands alongside Chris Jericho and other inner circle members.
During a recent interview, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion talked about his AEW debut and revealed the man responsible for bringing him into the company.
According to Hager, it was the former AEW Champion Chris Jericho who gave him the call and he was the one who got him the AEW job after seeing his progression:
“Chris Jericho really gave me the call, gave me the ok with everybody there and got me the job with AEW. He was training at Dave Bautista’s gym; the same one I train at in Tampa.
My head coach was training him at the time and we would bump into each other all the time. He saw the progression between the fights (Hager’s Bellator fights) and must have liked it and liked what he was seeing. He said this is my guy, I want him.”
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Hager also talked about being neighbors with Danny Hodge in his childhood. The former champion explained that they both lived next to the school and one of Hodge’s grandsons graduated high school with him.
Jake Hager signed with WWE in 2006 and he stayed with the company till 2017. He pursued an MMA career after his WWE release and made his AEW debut during the inaugural episode of AEW Dynamite in October last year.