Jake Hager didn’t leave WWE because he was finished with professional wrestling. He left because the money wasn’t where he believed it should be—and he saw a chance to bet on himself.
During a conversation on the Off the Rails podcast with Jasmine St. Claire, the former Jack Swagger explained how his WWE departure came together. Hager described it as a case of knowing his value and wanting to see what he could accomplish outside the company.
Hager said WWE entered contract negotiations with him, but the discussions never reached the salary he wanted. More importantly, he believed he had already earned that figure through his work during the previous year.
“I think it’s just a classic tale of me knowing my value and seeing what I could do. We were in contract negotiations, and it really wasn’t getting to the number that I wanted—the number that I had earned the previous year.”
Money wasn’t the only factor. Hager said he had developed a serious interest in MMA roughly three years before leaving WWE. That interest started shortly after he signed his previous contract, meaning a possible move into fighting remained in the back of his mind throughout the rest of his WWE run.
“I got the bug for MMA about three years before that, right after I’d signed that contract, so it was always in the back of my head.”
The timing also gave Hager another option. The independent wrestling scene was exploding in 2017, with names such as Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes proving that wrestlers could leave WWE, rebuild themselves and still support their families. Hager watched what they were doing and realized he didn’t need WWE to remain financially secure or relevant in professional wrestling.
“It was 2017, and the independents were exploding. Drew Galloway—Drew McIntyre—was number one. Cody had left a little bit before me. I kind of saw that I could go on the independents and support my family that way.”
Hager’s full plan involved more than simply working independent dates. He wanted to leave WWE, pursue MMA and use both worlds to raise his value before eventually returning to professional wrestling at a higher level.
“While training for MMA, the whole idea was to leave WWE, go to MMA, make myself a bigger name in pro wrestling and then come back at the top in pro wrestling—which we could still do. It’s not over yet.”
Hager eventually competed for Bellator MMA and later joined AEW, where he became a founding member of the Inner Circle. He never made the WWE return that was part of his original plan, but he clearly hasn’t abandoned the possibility.
His comments also show that the decision to leave WWE wasn’t made overnight. Hager had a number in mind, another career waiting and proof that wrestlers could build their names outside the company.
Would Jake Hager have received a bigger push if he had returned to WWE after his MMA run, or was leaving still the right decision? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
