Jake Hager, a former member of AEW‘s original roster, has shared his frustrations surrounding AEW President Tony Khan and revealed how these backstage tensions contributed to his departure from the wrestling company. Hager’s struggles with Tony Khan AEW backstage frustrations stemmed from a growing sense of disillusionment during his time with the promotion.
Hager first appeared as part of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle faction on AEW Dynamite’s debut episode in October 2019. He witnessed firsthand the challenges behind the scenes as the company navigated high-profile conflicts.
Tensions Escalated After CM Punk Incident
Speaking on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Hager described a tense backstage situation following the notorious incident involving CM Punk. A private meeting among veteran wrestlers, intended to address the fallout, was suddenly interrupted in an unprofessional manner by Tony Khan himself.
“He wasn’t a professional. After all the Punk shit that went down, the boys got together and we had a meeting, and this was the boys only, no office, right? We’re all like Sting’s in there, Show, Jericho, Bryan, Mox, they’re all standing at the front, kind of like, talking us through this shit, and lo and behold, who comes into the room storming in? Daddy’s little billionaire, and he’s like yelling at us… We were all feeling disrespected.”
—Jake Hager, former AEW wrestler
Hager admitted he wished he had spoken up during that confrontation and explained how the veteran wrestlers often felt sidelined and treated like “playthings” under Khan’s management style.
Challenges in Communicating with Tony Khan
Beyond that incident, Hager expressed significant dissatisfaction with Khan’s reluctance to accept feedback from his experienced roster, especially regarding creative decisions and storylines. According to Hager, while Khan excelled at initial storytelling concepts, he lacked follow-through, which caused frustration among the wrestlers.
“We had to wait outside his office. His storylines were very good at debuting, but he could never carry anything through. And then it got to the point where I couldn’t tell him anything. He couldn’t take criticism. He was f—ing up, and we’re all just having to deal with it, you know. We all had blood, sweat and tears put into that company. We were all there at the beginning, like we all had our careers behind us that helped build that company, and then we all had to just sit side by side and couldn’t do anything because he wanted to run it the way he wanted to run it.”
—Jake Hager, former AEW wrestler
Life After AEW and Future Outlook
Following his departure from AEW, Jake Hager has retired from professional wrestling. He has since shifted his career focus and now owns a trucking company based in Florida. His candid interview sheds light on the struggles wrestlers face behind the scenes when creative control clashes with leadership decisions, and it reveals the toll it takes on performers who invested heavily in building AEW.
