Jake Hager officially stepped away from professional wrestling last year, ending a career that spanned nearly two decades across several major promotions. Looking back, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion says he’s largely satisfied with the wide range of opponents he faced throughout his career, though there is one AEW star he wishes he could have worked with in a larger storyline.
Speaking with TMZ’s Inside The Ring, Hager explained that he never approached wrestling with the mindset of chasing specific dream matches. Instead, he said his focus was always on doing whatever the company needed at the time.
“To be honest, no,” Hager said when asked if there were wrestlers he had hoped to face before leaving WWE in 2017. “I never thought about wrestling like that, wanting to wrestle certain people. It was always what my job is and what’s best for the company, bullcrap answer like that.”
Despite that mindset, Hager did reveal one potential feud from his AEW run that he believes could have been something special.
“I will say that in AEW I really wanted to wrestle Hangman Page in a storyline just because of the Stadium Stampede scene that we did.”
Hager went on to praise Page’s athletic ability, recalling their memorable interaction during the cinematic Stadium Stampede match.
“You won’t believe me, but we shot that in one take,” he continued. “Like we paused, and then stopped and started filming again, but he is so unbelievably athletic. It was impressive. I got to be like so aggressive because of that.”
He added that he always assumed their interaction would eventually lead to a more traditional in-ring program.
“So I always thought down the road that we were going to lead to that and it was going to be great, but never got to it.”
The Stadium Stampede match Hager referenced took place at AEW Double or Nothing 2020, featuring Matt Hardy and The Elite (Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) taking on Chris Jericho, Hager, Ortiz, Sammy Guevara and Santana of The Inner Circle. The match ended with The Elite picking up the victory after Omega delivered a One-Winged Angel that sent Guevara crashing through a platform.
Hager ultimately departed AEW in 2024 following the expiration of his contract, while Page remains one of the promotion’s most prominent stars. Moments like the Stadium Stampede highlight how cinematic wrestling segments can spark unexpected chemistry between performers, even if those interactions never evolve into full storylines. In a roster as deep as AEW’s, many intriguing matchups simply never get the chance to happen.
