Jake Hager on His Issues with Tony Khan Over AEW Exit & Claims Khan Interrupted Talent Meeting After CM Punk Situation, Dax Harwood Responds Denying Hager’s Claims FTR Refused To Come To TV & Says Khan Didn’t Interrupt Talent Meeting

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured former AEW talent Jake Hager as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Hager’s thoughts about if there was a moment where he stopped loving wrestling.

“Absolutely. I’m very jaded from my exit at AEW. Like, I’m very proud of the stuff I did there, but at the same time, I find myself questioning right now. I wish I would have just stayed in MMA at some point.”

Hager also gave his thoughts about how being part of the Inner Circle and Jericho Appreciation Society in AEW was one of his favorite things he’s ever done in wrestling but felt disrespected when he was only offered an 18-month contract after his first AEW deal.

“The negotiation process was very one-way. And I could tell that — well, anyways, I always find a way to say this every day, so I think everyone should too: say, ‘F*ck Tony Khan.’ I could tell that he didn’t want me there. He offered me like a year and a half. I was like, bro, I just did Stadium Stampede twice. Don’t act like Stadium Stampede didn’t put AEW on the map. I was in the debut episode, I was the big spoiler. And you offer me 18 months after all that? So it was that and the way that he started running the business that it really — like he wasn’t a professional.”

Hager also claimed that AEW CEO Tony Khan had interrupted a talent meeting that was held just between the wrestlers after “all of the [CM] Punk shit went down there.” there was a talent meeting after all of the CM Punk stuff went down in AEW. Hager stated that this meeting featured veterans Sting, Paul Wight, Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley all talking through the situation.

“Lo and behold, who comes into the room storming in — daddy’s little billionaire. And he’s like yelling at us, because I think it was Dax [Harwood] and Cash Wheeler didn’t want to come in, they didn’t like the storylines, so they refused to come to TV that day.

And he was like, ‘Listen, I’ll put you in a six-man, six minutes before the show and you’re going to do it.’ And we’re all just like all feeling disrespected. And I still to this day wish I would have stood up and said, you know, a lot of things, but, like, you just told Sting that you’re going to put him in a six-man and six minutes, but then you’re going to honor him for his retirement. We were all, we became his little playthings.”

Hager also gave his thoughts about how Khan was good with starting storylines but could never follow through with them and claimed it was due to Khan couldn’t take criticism.

“You couldn’t tell him anything. He couldn’t take criticism. He was f*cking up and we were all just having to deal with it. You know, like 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.”

Following the release of the interview, FTR’s Dax Harwood responded on Twitter denying the claims made by Hager about him and Cash Wheeler had refused to come to television for work and also denied the claims that Khan had interrupted a talent meeting that was about CM Punk.

“Cash and I were at the all-talent only meeting that was called by Bryan, Jericho, and Mox.

Tony never interrupted.

Cash and I have NEVER refused to show up to work and, I’d to dare say, if you look at our schedules since Collision started, we’re the most consistent talent that make BOTH shows EVERY WEEK.

Im not really sure where all this is coming from, but it’s mostly not true.”

Cash and I were at the all-talent only meeting that was called by Bryan, Jericho, and Mox.

Tony never interrupted.

Cash and I have NEVER refused to show up to work and, I’d to dare say, if you look at our schedules since Collision started, we’re the most consistent talent that… https://t.co/Hf9mPtyZfe

— Dax FTR (@DaxFTR) August 26, 2025

In a follow-up tweet, Cash Wheeler posted a screenshot of a text conversation between him and Hager over Hager apologizing for the comments he made about FTR.

https://t.co/duHoGmnZf9 pic.twitter.com/uvAYSfEoW1

— Daniel “Cash” Wheeler (@CashWheelerFTR) August 26, 2025

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com