Jake Hager isn’t sparing his emotions when it comes to Tony Khan and AEW.
During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Hager discussed his exit from All Elite Wrestling, claiming his contract negotiation process with the Jacksonville-based promotion was “very one way.”
“Anyway, I always find a way to say this every day, so I think everyone should, too—say ‘F’ Tony Khan,” Hager said. I could tell that he didn’t want me there. He offered me a year and a half. I was like, ‘Bro, I just did Stadium Stampede twice. Don’t act like Stadium Stampede didn’t put AEW on the map.’ I was in the debut episode, I was the big spoiler, and he offered me 18 months after all that.”
Jake Hager calls out Tony Khan for his way of running AEW
“So, it was that and the way that he started running the business that it really, he wasn’t a professional. After all the (CM) Punk s**t that went down, the boys got together, and we had a meeting, and this was the boys only, no office. And we’re on, there’s Sting, there’s Show (Paul Wight). Jericho, Bryan, Mox, they’re all standing at the front, kind of like talking through this s**t.
“And, lo and behold, who comes in the room storming in? Daddy’s little billionaire, and he’s like yelling at us because, I think it was Cash and Wheeler (Dax Harwood/FTR), they didn’t want to come in, they didn’t like the storylines, they refused to come to TV that day. And he was like, ‘Listen, I’ll put you in a six-man, six minutes before the show, and you’re gonna do it.'”
This isn’t the first time Jake Hager has claimed that Tony Khan didn’t want him in his promotion. He previously said he got the job because of Chris Jericho. Hager signed with AEW in 2019 and was immediately paired with Jericho. Hager would continue to act as Jericho’s enforcer for the remainder of his contract. His final match for the promotion came against Roderick Strong in February 2024.
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