Former world heavyweight champion Jake Hager was the latest guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to discuss all things pro-wrestling, including what his favorite match of the year was in the promotion, and who was originally supposed to be in the Inner Circle faction. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says Gallows and Anderson were going to be the original members of the Inner Circle:
“I think what happened was, Gallows and Anderson possibly were going to be in The Inner Circle, but they re-signed. So, I got bumped up or I came into the picture, however you want to phrase it. Chris told Tony he wanted me for the job and the rest is history.”
On his first phone call with Tony Khan:
“Tony made sure I wasn’t a scumbag; he had a couple of phone calls with me and then I got to be Elite. It was great. I am so glad I got to be part of the groundwork, the beginning team of AEW, I’m very proud of that.”
Calls Blood & Guts his favorite match he’s participated in:
“I really enjoyed, of course, the Stadium Stampede Two. That was just a magical match, very proud to be in that. But more important than that, Blood & Guts, on May 5th. I think it was one of our first matches back in front of an audience and we hadn’t felt that normalcy of a pro wrestling show. We hadn’t felt the impact of our other character in our show, the fans, they are definitely part of the show. I remember coming out. We had the jumpsuits on and we are coming out with the big cage down and they’re singing Fozzy. They just erupted, they wanted it so bad,” he said. “I think you see a picture of me, I am trying to do my normal scream entrance. But you look at my face, I am crying in my eye because it was so cool to feel that again. Being back, it was like, ‘yes, we need that normalcy,’ it was powerful for me, I am getting goosebumps now.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)