Ex-WWE champion massively fumbled in AEW, says Dutch Mantell (Exclusive)

AEW has a history of mishandling several former WWE stars after signing them. Wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell recently talked about another fumbled name, Jake Hager (fka Jack Swagger).

Jake was a part of WWE for over a decade as Jack Swagger and had a few storylines, with the most notable being with Dutch Mantell as his manager. Despite winning the World Heavyweight Championship once, he was never pushed to the level of a headliner. The same happened in AEW, where he mostly worked as a henchman for Chris Jericho and did not receive a singles push from Tony Khan. Hager left AEW in May 2024.

Speaking about this on UnSKripted, Dutch Mantell was confused about Jake's push in both companies. Hager's former manager said:

"I have no idea. I think when Jack started to hum, it was with me. We started to get a little buzz going, and all of a sudden, they just, I have no idea why, they just like clipped the umbilical cord, and we were out floating in space. And even when he left and went to AEW, it was more of the same. They didn't do anything with him there." [27:19 onwards]

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The former WWE star claims he felt disrespected in AEW

Jake Hager had apparently tried to renew his contract with AEW, but things did not pan out well.

Speaking on Rulebreakers with Saraya, Jake talked about how he received a counteroffer to his contract proposal that made him decide to leave the company.

“Yeah, so I was in contract negotiations and I just felt really disrespected… I made a counter, and they made a counter that really p****** me off. So I was like, alright, let’s go elsewhere.”

The former WWE star has now retired from wrestling altogether.

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About the author

Shubhajit is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda, reporting on WWE news. He has a Master's degree in English and has been working in his current role for over 2 years.

A fan of pro wrestling since childhood, Shubhajit decided to start creating content on the sport out of passion. Before covering a piece of news or rumor, he conducts thorough research, ensuring information in his work is reliable and completely accurate.

Although Shubhajit admires numerous pro wrestlers, his current favorite is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre. He is fond of The Scottish Warrior’s character work and innovative quips.

If there is one storyline he can work on in WWE, Shubhajit would book Roman Reigns’ future with The Bloodline following WrestleMania XL, where he lost to Cody Rhodes. He would have Reigns’ stablemates excommunicate him, laying the foundation for a gimmick change for the former. After Reigns’ exit from the faction, Shubhajit would portray him as an anti-hero trying hard to claw his way back up to the top.

Apart from reporting on pro wrestling, Shubhajit enjoys competitive gaming and reading.

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Edited by Angana Roy