Jake Hager makes the rounds ahead of Bellator 214.
Jake Hager, or better known by wrestling fans as Jack Swagger is set to have his first professional MMA bout tomorrow night on the main card of Bellator 214 against J.W. Kiser. Hager is confident going into the fight because of the intense training that he has done leading up to this point along with his amateur wrestling background. Although Hager is locked in on stepping into the octagon, he has no problem answering questions in detail about professional wrestling and while speaking with the New York Post, Hager was asked about potentially joining All Elite Wrestling.
The current Lucha Underground Champion said that he would love to bring his talents to AEW and added that he feels the momentum of the independent wrestling in the eyes of those in WWE picked up when Drew McIntyre was released from the sports-entertainment company in 2014 and went on to become one of the more demanded wrestlers on the independents.
"Absolutely. You see what guys like Cody Rhodes, guys like The Young Bucks have done. Guys like Kenny Omega, who is expected to sign with them. They bring in Chris Jericho and he’s like the world, you know, universal greatest of all time. It’s so cool to see the momentum." Hager continued, "Honestly, I feel like it started a couple of years ago with Drew McIntyre doing such a good job on the independent scene and really showing, at least a lot of the wrestlers in WWE, that there is life outside of the WWE and that the independent scene is a viable place to make consistent money where you can provide for you family. I absolutely would love to work with Cody and the Bucks. I invited them to the Bellator fight. So we will have to see if they show up."
MMA Insider and Fightful's own James Lynch had the opportunity to interview Jake Hager ahead of Bellator 214 and to check out that exclusive, head over to the Fightful MMA & Boxing YouTube channel.
