AEW’s roster consists of several former WWE stars. Massive names like Jon Moxley, Swerve Strickland, Mercedes Mone, Toni Storm, Samoa Joe, and Adam Copeland, among others, were once under the Stamford-based company’s banner. Tony Khan has booked most of them well so far.
Former World Heavyweight Champion Jake Hager was an AEW star from 2019 to 2024. He is best known for his work as a member of the Inner Circle and Jericho Appreciation Society. His time in the Tony Khan-led promotion was underwhelming. He didn’t win a single title, and fans couldn’t get behind him. After leaving the company, he took shots at Khan multiple times.
The former Jack Swagger recently appeared on the Krazy Train podcast. In this conversation, the 44-year-old strongly ruled out an AEW return.
“They always say never say never in pro wrestling, but I think I’ve kind of slammed that door shut.”
In addition, he said that once he got to know Tony Khan’s true colors, he realised that the latter is not a good person. This was based on how the president treated him during his time there.
“I would say no. I never got to know the real Tony, and then once I saw his true colors, I would say no. He’s not a decent person, just based on how he treated me and my situation there,” said Hager.
Former AEW star Jake Hager does not care about people criticising his World Heavyweight Champion reign
In a 2025 interview with Chris Van Vliet, Jake Hager said that he is very proud of his World Heavyweight Championship reign and is not bothered by fan criticism.
“I mean, I’m on a list, a very elite list, of World Heavyweight Champions. I don’t really care what people think. Hindsight is 20/20. I got into this for me, I’m glad you guys like me, I don’t care if you hate me. I’m not gonna sacrifice my happiness to worry about that stuff, especially in this day and age with social media. It is what it is. I’m a World Heavyweight Champion, whether you like it or not,” he said.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the former AEW star. Perhaps he and Tony Khan will fix their differences someday.
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Edited by Debangshu Nath