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The majority of John Cena's co-workers have good things to say about the WWE veteran's attitude, but AEW's Jake Hager is not one of them.
In 2010, Hager performed as Jack Swagger in WWE when he won the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho. The one-time Money in the Bank holder was initially discussed as someone who could beat Cena for the WWE Championship. However, according to Hager, the 16-time world champion disliked the idea.
The former Real American claimed on Talk Is Jericho in 2020 that Cena did not want to lose the title to him:
"The night before [Hager's cash-in on Jericho], I teased it on RAW where I would almost hit Cena with the briefcase," Hager said. "I snuck up on him and then we had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later come find out he refused to do the job for me for the world championship, but we won't talk about that." (H/T Wrestling Inc.)
At the time of Hager's cash-in, John Cena held the WWE Championship after defeating Batista at WrestleMania 26. He lost the title 84 days later to Sheamus.
Jake Hager has contrasting opinions on Chris Jericho and John Cena
After his win over Chris Jericho, Jake Hager's Jack Swagger character remained World Heavyweight Champion for 79 days before losing the title to Rey Mysterio.
While Hager had a bad experience with John Cena, he had a lot of respect for Jericho when the current AEW colleagues worked together in WWE:
"Honestly, Chris, this is why I always look to you as someone I could trust, someone that actually cared, is because when we sat in there, and it was laid out what was going to happen, you turn to me and very stoically, you told me, 'You better not f**k this up.' And you were dead serious, and you were very sincere with it."
Hager added that he liked Jericho's approach because it reminded him of the way his old wrestling coach spoke to him.
Do you have any memories of Jack Swagger as World Heavyweight Champion? Let us know in the comments section below.
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