How THIS Was AEW’s First Major Mistake
Gone wrong because it started out magnificently. Revealed as Chris Jericho's secret weapon on the first episode of Dynamite, Hager was a silent assassin. Literally so - he didn't speak during 'LeChampion's hilarious Cody parody video, after his "We The People" WWE catchphrase was infamously bantered off as a "Stupid idea by bad creative" weeks earlier.
His instincts weren't always great - Hager used the Swagger line during an MMA he had after the above retooling - but they were getting better at Jericho's side. AEW gambled on him for a match against Dustin Rhodes at Revolution. "AEW have made me care about Jack Swagger Vs Goldust", fans marvelled. This turned out to be false when the bell rang and the wrestlers produced exactly that.
With almost all of the bloom off the rose in one match, the company made him new Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley's first television opponent, presumably to use any remaining momentum to elevate 'Mox' and pop a number with a (theoretically) intriguing combination. Hager popped up from Moxley's finisher to appear different to any regular proposition, AEW dedicated endless segments to promoting the battle as an end-of-the-world war, whilst Tony Khan became Tony Carny when he said the pre-taped encounter would be known as the "best empty arena match ever".
It was anything but set up to fail. This, like Hager himself, was promoted to succeed, and to draw.
CONT'D...