Top AEW Star and MMA Star Jake Hager, who is part of “Le Champion” Chris Jericho‘s Inner Circle group recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast, where Hager talked about AEW being a goal for him ever since it was introduced and using MMA to make him a better pro wrestler.
This is what Jake Hager said:
“I mean, honestly, I think anybody in the pro wrestling world around 2018 and there on was really starting to get the vibe that AEW was going to be a thing.” “Everyone was seeing what you and Kenny [Omega] were doing with New Japan, and it was only a matter of time. I forget when that actual announcement was for AEW, but that was always the goal for me is to use MMA to make me a better pro wrestler, and what’s better than going to the brand new hot promotion?
Hager then talked about reaching out to Cody to sign with AEW, but not getting anywhere initially and that all just changed when Jericho called him back and said that AEW will indeed go with him.
This is what Jake Hager said:
“I had reached out to Cody. I think everybody in the world was reaching out to Cody at the time.” “We knew that we were on the same page; maybe it can work out. I reached out again and I’m still not getting anything. This is about May. This is Double or Nothing time and I’m not getting anything, and I think I told you that, and so, [Jericho] reached out. And he was like, ‘hey, check back in a couple weeks,’ and I don’t know what changed but then you came back an hour later. You’re like, ‘no man, this is it. They want to go with you.'”
Chris Jericho would then talk about Tony Khan changing his mind when the Inner Circle became a thing and them kind of subtly nudging Khan in signing Jake Hager because he was the right man for the job as the muscle of the Inner Circle.
This is what Jake Hager said:
“I think what changed was that The Inner Circle became a thing.” “That must have been something because I remember it took him a long time. We’re talking about Tony Khan – it took him a long time to get back to you, and I kept kind of subtly nudging him. And he was like, ‘yeah, yeah, sure, sure’, but something switched and maybe that was it. Maybe he decided you were the right man for the job.”
Hager then talked about Tony Khan being so casual and so easy to talk to that you could really feel comfortable telling him anything. Hager also talked about everyone in the Inner Circle just kind of starting to get to know each other quickly and really having that vibe as well as gelling together.
This is what Jake Hager said:
“You set us up, and I know we had a great phone call with him.” “And I got off the phone, and I was like, ‘holy cow, this is a billionaire. This is the owner of the company? He was so casual and easy to talk to that you could really feel comfortable telling him, ‘hey, man, I’m really insecure about whatever.’ It was one of those types of conversations, and hopefully– I like to say my winning personality along with the endorsement for The Inner Circle helped.”
“It was so cool how it happened, and immediately, everybody just kind of started getting to know each other and really vibe. Of course, I feel like you do a great job of seeing the bigger picture. ‘That’s all great. Let’s do it this way and make it even better.'”
Jake Hager then talked about his first year working at AEW and calling it the greatest year of his pro wrestling career.
This is what Jake Hager said:
“I look back at this year with AEW as the greatest year in my career pro wrestling wise. Moments like that were really cool.” “14,000 people, the debut episode – I was nervous as s–t and I had the easiest thing to do. All I had to do was run out to the ring without tripping and then slide in the ring and do a couple things. You look back at some of the uncut footage that they have formatted, it’s so cool, and the crowd was going so crazy.”
“I think you had to know that we were onto something that night, because we talked about ‘We The People’. They are all started chanting ‘We The People.’ The first night they were chanting it and then the second night is when you completely cut it off, and they haven’t said it since. It’s just cool because we are different characters with AEW, so let’s be different.”
