Jake Hager found a new lease of life in AEW following his WWE run and he continues to enjoy himself inside Chris Jericho’s literal Inner Circle.
The Bellator fighter – 3-0 (1) – signed for AEW in 2019 after spending 11 years with WWE.
Then known as Jack Swagger, Hager’s early run in WWE was very successful with an ECW title run. He would then win the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2010, cashing it in shortly after on Jericho himself.
During an appearance on Jericho’s podcast, Talk is Jericho, Swagger opened up about the cash-in and revealed what the Demo God told him ahead of the event.
“That was in Phoenix,” he began. “I got a call that night to come to Vegas. We get to the building, I get there 30 minutes early so I’m waiting.
“I see [John Laurinaitis] go into the office, here you [Jericho] come, here Edge comes, I was going to come in behind you guys, then the door shuts. It was about five minutes, then I go in there.
“When we were in there and it was laid out, you turned to me and were like, ‘You better not f*** this up,’ and you were dead serious and very sincere. It always reminded me of my best wrestling coach.
“Once you said that, I looked up to you and knew I could trust you.”
Swagger had teased cashing in on John Cena on the RAW before he ultimately became champion, but it turns out the Leader of the Cenation used his power backstage to make sure it went no further than that.
“I had a little inclination, but I had no idea what was going to happen,” he added. “The night before, I teased it on RAW. I hit Cena with the briefcase, I snuck up on him when he had one of his brilliant promo segments.
“Later, come to find out, he refused to do the job for me for the [WWE] Championship. We won’t talk about that. Ugh. ‘The most unselfish top man in the business’.”
Cena wasn’t the first to use his power backstage and he certainly won’t be the last, but cashing in on a legend like Jericho wasn’t exactly a big step down for Hager!
And, still only 38, Hager has plenty of time to achieve more in AEW.