10 Wrestlers With The AEW Stink

7. Jake Hager

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AEW

Jake Hager has happily walked behind Chris Jericho since AEW launched in 2019, playing the bodyguard role reasonably well when he wasn't expected to do a great deal more.

His natural deadpan leant credence to his task as the Inner Circle's simpleton hoss, but as the group have splintered in recent months, it's become even more apparent how far below his old and new colleagues he is in the AEW pecking order.

A failure to emerge with much credit after laboured efforts against Dustin Rhodes and Jon Moxley in AEW's first year did that reputation no favours, and only when tagging with 'Le Champion' has Hager felt anything close to the peak standard expected on Wednesday nights.

Jericho legendarily bantered off Hager's old "We The People" catchphrase on the second ever episode of Dynamite, but that deathblow might need undoing in the months to come if the former World Heavyweight Champion finds himself on the outs. It was a bit stupid and it did come from bad creative, but at least it was over.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett