Jake Hager Accuses Tony Khan Of GHOSTING Chris Jericho (AEW News)
Jake Hager again hits out at AEW and Tony Khan.
Following recent comments hitting out at Tony Khan, Jake Hager has again been discussing some of his experiences during his time with AEW.
These latest comments from Hager came during an appearance on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge's UnSkripted that's recently hit the news cycle, with the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion discussing how difficult things were behind the scenes, particularly after Cody Rhodes departed for WWE.
Of course, the American Nightmare was a founding father of AEW, serving as an EVP alongside Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. For Hager, though, Rhodes' company exit led to things becoming a "free-for-all"
When asked by co-host Dutch Mantell - who served as Jake's on-screen manager for a spell in WWE - whether there was anybody else working on creative with Tony Khan, Hager said:
"There's Yes Man that help him write his storylines, but there's no one there that can tell him no."
Upon being asked how things were when Cody was still with AEW, that's when Jake discussed how even a top star, the company's inaugural World Champion, no less, like Chris Jericho would sometimes struggle to get a response from Tony.
"I think everything changed after [Cody Rhodes] left, because he was involved with it. After that, it just kind of became a free-for-all. Young Bucks and Kenny [Omega] still had a big say about what they were doing. Chris [Jericho], obviously, still had a big say in what he was doing. But even Chris, he would tell me that Tony would not respond to his messages for, like, two weeks. So, it became a point to where either AEW's important or it's not, and it just seemed like it was not to him, because they stopped doing production meetings, they stopped doing anything to make the show timely. We would be waiting round until, like, 5pm to find out what we're doing that day. What live television show does that? Only one with money behind it."
Interestingly, Hager also said that Tony Khan had no interest in signing him, and that signing only happened because of Chris Jericho.
"The only reason why I got signed with AEW was because of Chris Jericho. So, I'm very thankful for that. Tony wanted nothing to do with me because I was from the Fed, and he's an indie darling guy. He wants flips and hamburgers and hot dogs, and not storylines."
As for Jericho, there remains plentiful speculation of the future of the Learning Tree man, with his AEW deal reportedly up later this year and heavy rumours of a WWE return being potentially on the horizon as soon as next year's Royal Rumble.
If you use any of the above quotes, please link to Sportskeeda WrestleBinge UnSkripted with a h/t to WhatCulture Wrestling.