Former AEW star Jake Hager recently made headlines with critical comments about AEW and its president Tony Khan during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
On his Grilling JR podcast, AEW announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross addressed Hager’s remarks, suggesting they came from a place of frustration rather than malice.
Ross said, “He’s got a lot of pent-up frustration. Yeah, quite honestly, he’s not a bad person. Jake is not a bad person whatsoever, no, but he’s very frustrated, or was very frustrated. Hopefully he’s got that past him and he’s going to focus more on his creative energy to his trucking company.”
Ross went on to say that Hager’s passion for wrestling was genuine, even if he wasn’t originally a lifelong fan of the industry. “It shows you how much he loved doing what he did because he became a fan. As I said, he wasn’t born a fan, and I find that ironic, considering he and [Danny] Hodge are from the same hometown.”
According to JR, Hager’s frustration largely stemmed from unmet career goals in wrestling. “I think he’s frustrated. He didn’t get it all out of the business that he would like to have at the end of the day… Sometimes it doesn’t end the way that one would like for it to. It’s tough to deal with. You get frustrated, and it’s just a mind game at that point, because that’s some of which had all the physical tools he needed to be a huge star, an athletic big man. He’s six, five, maybe six, six, I’m not sure…he’s a good dude, and I’m glad he’s doing well, at least. I hope that he’s going to do well.”
Hager departed AEW earlier this year after nearly five years with the company. He is currently focusing on ventures outside of wrestling, including his trucking business.
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