Jake Hager was on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show yesterday, and the conversation involved talking about Hager’s highly publicized Bellator 221 win, as well as some All Elite Wrestling questions. Hager praised the upstart wrestling promotion and talked about how impressive AEW has been so far as well, as how he can relate to their situation. Helwani asked if Hager has had talks with the company, and Hager replied by saying the two sides have spoken before and things could progress in the future, but he can’t comment on any offers being on the table at this time.
“Those guys are awesome. It’s really impressive what they’re doing and it’s something I can definitely relate to cause Cody, The Young Bucks, they invested and took a gamble on themselves and they bet big.” Swagger said. “And now it shows that they were right and that they knew something that was going to fall to the curve and really be ahead of the game and it’s definitely fun to be apart of, how they’re doing their storytelling and how they’re really moving the needle for the first time in decades. I definitely would want to be apart of it.”
Helwani followed up for clarification about his status, asking Hager if there have been any offers made. “As of now, I can’t tell you,” Hager said.
When asked about possibly seeing him at AEW’s Double Or Nothing event, Hager gave an interesting answer as he said he doesn’t “want to step in Jon Moxley’s shadow.” Hager followed by saying he was crossing his fingers that’s where Moxley would end up, and then talked about building his brand his own way:
“I think that’s gonna be a great debut for him, hopefully, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that’s where we see him at and you know, I think anything is possible. It’s awesome, awesome to be apart of this. This is definitely why I left in 2017 because I knew that pro wrestling was gonna have such big opportunities and new platforms for young businessmen who are serious and who are trying to provide for their families to come out and excel, and excel the way you want to and work with the people you want to and build your brand the way you want to, which is the most important thing. Whether you’re a pro wrestler or a pro fighter, you want leverage and this gives me the opportunity to increase more leverage for myself.”
The former WWE Champion said he’s looking to fight 1-2 more times this year, and wants to work on getting faster as a heavyweight fighter, and talks haven’t progressed to that point yet as far as his pro wrestling career is concerned.
(Transcription credit should go to Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone)
