Jake Hager, better known as Jack Swagger amongst professional wrestling fans, had an MMA career that went pretty much unnoticed. Before WWE and AEW, Jake Hager was an NCAA All-American wrestler, much like other WWE wrestlers who went to MMA like Brock Lesnar. In his career at Oklahoma, Jake set the record for most pins in a single season for the 285 pound weight class, a very impressive feat.
Donald Jacob Hager Jr. (born March 24, 1982) is an American retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his tenures in WWE as Jack Swagger and in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as Jake Hager.
Hager attended the University of Oklahoma as a two-sport athlete, participating in both football and wrestling. He was the second-string defensive tackle behind eventual National Football League players Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek. He stopped playing football and concentrated fully on wrestling his sophomore year.
During his junior year, he was introduced to Jim Ross, who was World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Head of Talent Relations at the time, through former OU defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek, Hager's close friend and college roommate. Ross encouraged Hager to contact him after graduating to see about a career in professional wrestling.
At the 2005 NCAA Division I championships, he lost to University of Pennsylvania's Matt Feast in the second round, and did not place. Hager started wrestling at the age of five.
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Jack Swagger during his WWE days.
After college, Jake entered the WWE under the name Jack Swagger, a technical wrestler, using his NCAA past as a big part of his character. In the WWE he was a one-time ECW Champion, a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, one-time United States Champion and won the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2010.
Following a try-out, Hager signed a WWE contract in mid 2006 where he performed as Jack Swagger. During his time with WWE, he became a two-time world champion, having held the WWE's World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW Championship once each and a one-time United States Champion.
WWE Career Highlights
- ECW Championship (1 time)
- World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- United States Championship (1 time)
- Money in the Bank winner (2010)
He competed mainly in dark matches before being moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in January 2007. He debuted for the promotion by defeating Atlas DaBone, and in the following months began a feud with K.C. In August 2007, Hager was reassigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he began a feud with TJ Wilson. On February 15, 2008, at the Florida State Fair in Tampa, Florida, Hager and Ted DiBiase Jr. were the final two men remaining in a 23-man battle royal to determine the two contenders for the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. During this time, Hager had a gimmick of having an undefeated streak in FCW.
His first loss came in the form of a Raw dark match, at the TV taping on August 18, 2008, when he lost to William Regal. He also lost to D'Lo Brown in a dark match, before defeating Jamie Noble in a dark match prior to a SmackDown taping on August 29.
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On September 9, 2008, Hager made his debut on the ECW brand as a heel under the ring name Jack Swagger, winning a match against a local competitor. He immediately started a feud with Tommy Dreamer. He then sought to challenge Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship and was named the #1 contender on the December 30 episode of ECW. On the January 13, 2009 episode of ECW, Swagger defeated Hardy to win his first title in WWE, the ECW Championship, and retained the title against Hardy in a rematch at the Royal Rumble on January 25.
His undefeated streak in singles competition ended on the February 3 episode of ECW when he lost to Finlay in a non-title match. After successfully defending his title against Finlay at No Way Out on February 15, Swagger began a feud with the returning Christian.
On the June 29 episode of Raw, Swagger was traded to the Raw brand, making his debut as part of a three-on-one gauntlet match against WWE Champion Randy Orton, in which he got himself purposely counted out in order to make an impression on Orton. On the July 13 episode of Raw, he won his first match on the brand by defeating Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). He then feuded with MVP for several weeks, culminating at SummerSlam on August 23, in a match that MVP won.
After his short feud with MVP ended, Swagger began pursuing the United States Championship. On the March 1 episode of Raw, Swagger defeated Santino Marella to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28, where he won, earning a contract for any WWE world championship over the following year. On the March 29 episode of Raw, Swagger tried to cash in his Money in the Bank contract against the WWE Champion John Cena, but changed his mind when he realized that Cena was not incapacitated enough to be defeated easily.
Swagger cashed in the contract during the April 2 episode of SmackDown, after then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho had been speared by Edge. Swagger went on to defeat Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time and subsequently joined the SmackDown brand.
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Jack Swagger holding the World Heavyweight Championship.
Following his championship win, Swagger began to develop a more serious persona: previously he had been known for doing pushups and beating his chest during his ring entrance. He successfully defended the title against Edge and Jericho in a triple threat match on the April 16 episode of SmackDown and against Randy Orton in an Extreme Rules match at Extreme Rules on April 25. At Over the Limit on May 23, Swagger retained the title against Big Show by intentionally disqualifying himself.
At Fatal 4-Way on June 20, Swagger lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio in a fatal four-way match also involving CM Punk and Big Show, ending his world championship reign at 79 days. Following the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, Swagger began attacking Mysterio in the lead up to his rematch at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 18. He failed to regain the championship, ending their short feud and Swagger's main event status.
On the February 28, 2011 episode of Raw, Swagger was announced as Michael Cole's trainer for his match at WrestleMania XXVII on April 3 against Jerry Lawler. On the March 28 episode of Raw, Swagger faced Lawler in a singles match, which he won by disqualification after Lawler attacked him with a steel chair. At WrestleMania, Swagger received a Stone Cold Stunner from the guest referee, Stone Cold Steve Austin when attempting to withdraw Cole from the match.
On the August 15 episode of Raw, after defeating Alex Riley, Swagger suggested to Vickie Guerrero that she should manage multiple clients, in the vein of managers like Bobby Heenan and Freddie Blassie. The following week, Swagger had a "tryout" match, but was distracted by Guerrero arguing with Dolph Ziggler at ringside, and lost the match. Swagger and Ziggler continued to fight over Guerrero for the next few weeks, which led to a match being for Ziggler's United States Championship at Night of Champions on September 18, also involving Riley and John Morrison.
On the January 16, 2012, episode of Raw SuperShow, Swagger won the United States Championship for the first time by defeating Zack Ryder. At Elimination Chamber on February 19, Swagger successfully defended his title against Justin Gabriel. On the February 27 episode of Raw SuperShow, Swagger and Ziggler unsuccessfully challenged Primo & Epico for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team match, also involving Kofi Kingston and R-Truth.
On the March 5 episode of Raw SuperShow, Swagger lost the United States Championship to Santino Marella, ending his reign at 49 days. On the following episode of SmackDown, Swagger failed to regain the United States Championship in a steel cage match, after Marella escaped through the cage door. On the March 19 episode of Raw SuperShow, Swagger was announced as a member of Team Johnny at WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1, a match Team Johnny won.
Swagger returned in February 2013, and was paired with Zeb Colter as his manager, changing his character to a self-proclaimed great American hero who strongly advocated anti-immigration beliefs; Swagger's character was influenced by Colter to display similar traits. At Elimination Chamber on February 17, Swagger won an Elimination Chamber match against Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, Kane and Daniel Bryan to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
When Swagger returned, he and Colter were paired with Antonio Cesaro as the tag team The Real Americans. They feuded with Santino Marella and Los Matadores, culminating in a tag team match on October 27 at Hell in a Cell, which Los Matadores won. At Survivor Series on November 24, Swagger teamed with Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in a 5 on 5 traditional Survivor Series tag team match in which their team was victorious. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15, they also challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship again in a losing effort in a fatal four-way match also involving RybAxel and the team of Big Show and Rey Mysterio.
During the pre-show of WrestleMania XXX on April 6, the Real Americans were the final team eliminated during a fatal-four-way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Swagger blamed Cesaro for the loss and put Cesaro in the Patriot Lock before Colter demanded that the duo shake hands.
Following his match with Rusev at TLC, Swagger began to appear on television less frequently. At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2015, Swagger competed in the Royal Rumble match, lasting a while before he was eliminated by Big Show. On January 24, 2016, at the Royal Rumble, during the kick-off show, Swagger teamed with Mark Henry in a winning effort against the teams of Darren Young and Damien Sandow, The Dudley Boyz and The Ascension. As a result of the win, Swagger qualified for the Royal Rumble match itself during the main show; entering as the 24th entrant, only to be quickly eliminated by Brock Lesnar lasting only 16 seconds.
At Roadblock on March 12, Swagger would be defeated by Chris Jericho. At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, Swagger would compete in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Baron Corbin. On the June 6 episode of Raw, Swagger faced long-time rival Rusev in Swagger's home state of Oklahoma in a losing effort via count-out.
In the 2016 WWE draft, Swagger was drafted to the Raw brand. On the September 12 episode of Raw, Swagger faced Jinder Mahal in a losing effort. On March 1, 2017, Hager announced on Chael Sonnen's podcast that he had requested his release from WWE. Two days later, WWE issued a statement saying that Hager had not been granted his release.
Hager returned to professional wrestling on the independent circuit in 2017. He announced (using his Jack Swagger ring name) that he would be joining the House of Hardcore 2017 Australian tour. The Australia tour consisted of four events between June 16 and 24, 2017.
In February 2018, Hager joined 5 Star Wrestling and won the heavyweight title, defeating John Morrison. The promotion closed in March 2018 with Hager being the second and final champion. On April 20, 2018, Hager defeated MVP to become the Imperial Wrestling Revolution champion.
On the second episode of season 4 of Lucha Underground on June 20, 2018, Hager made his debut as a heel. with Sammy Guevara and Big Bad Steve, facing the Trios Champions The Mack, Son of Havoc and Killshot. After his team lost, Strong attacked every member, including Infamous Inc manager, Famous B. Strong then started a feud with Drago and Aerostar, defeating both in singles matches and in a handicap Nunchaku match. On October 17, Strong won a 7-man battle royal by last eliminating A. R. Fox and that same night, he defeated Johnny Mundo. The next week, Strong won a seven-to-seven survive elimination match to win the Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Championship. On the final day of Ultima Lucha Cuatro, which was also the final episode of season 4, Strong cashed his Gift of the Gods Championship on Pentagon Dark, who had just defeated Marty Martinez to win the Lucha Underground Championship, and proceeded to defeat Pentagon Dark to become the new Lucha Underground Champion.
In 2017, Jake was granted his release by the WWE to venture into other promotions. On November 13th, 2017 Jake announced he had signed for a fight for Bellator MMA as a part of their heavyweight division. A full year passed all the way to December of 2018, when heâd announce he was making his debut on January 26th, 2019 against J.W. Kiser. The whole time in preparation for this fight and through 2018, Jake was still wrestling professionally while training for his first MMA bout.
J.W. Kiser was heading into his third fight against Hager, being 1-1 at the time and coming off of a TKO win over Mike Edwards, but this didnât scare Jake in the slightest. At Bellator 214, Jake Hager submitted J.W. Kiser in two minutes and ten seconds with a triangle-choke, making quick work of him.
Jake Hager before his Bellator 214 fight.
Four months after his first fight, Hager was set to face T.J. Jones at Bellator 221. Just like his first bout, Jake submitted T.J. with a triangle choke in only two minutes and thirty-six seconds. A quick 2-0 start both by submission made Jakeâs MMA career start to look promising.
Jakeâs first fight came in October of 2019, only five months after his second bout. In this fight, Jake was set to face Anthony Garrett. After one minute and fifty-six seconds, Jake went for a knee that went to the groin of Anthony. Watching it back you can see it was unintentional, but the fight ended and was ruled a no-contest.
Once COVID hit, MMA as a whole slowed down, and Jake was preoccupied with Cody Rhodes new company AEW, wrestling for them while having an MMA career. Jakeâs most recent MMA fight was in October of 2020, a whole year after his third one. At Bellator 250, Jake faced Brandon Calton at heavyweight. After three full rounds of action, the fight was deemed a decision win for Jake Hager, his first time going the distance.
A 3-0 career including two submissions is quite impressive for the AEW star Jake Hager. The now thirty-nine year oldâs last fight was the one in October of 2020, so who knows if he will fight more in the MMA, or if heâll stick to AEW where he is doing phenomenal.
On October 2, 2019, Hager debuted in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the inaugural episode of AEW Dynamite, aligning himself with Chris Jericho, Santana and Ortiz, and Sammy Guevara by helping them take out The Young Bucks, Cody, and Dustin Rhodes in the aftermath of the main event. Led by Jericho, he subsequently formed a new faction with Guevara, Santana, and Ortiz called the Inner Circle. His in-ring debut match for AEW occurred on February 29, 2020, at Revolution, where he defeated Dustin Rhodes.
After this, Hager began a feud with AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, leading to a Empty Arena No Holds Barred match for the championship on the April 15 episode of Dynamite. On the February 9, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, the Inner Circle had a team meeting that ended with Sammy Guevara throwing his vest down and walking out. It was later announced that Jericho and Hager would face Santana and Ortiz in a tag team match the following week, with it being billed as the Inner Circle Implodes match.
On the March 9 episode of Dynamite, the Inner Circle was disbanded after Hager assisted Jericho in attacking Santana and Ortiz and joined a new stable with Jericho, Daniel Garcia and 2point0 called the Jericho Appreciation Society. Starting with the October 5 episode of Dynamite, Hager began wearing a purple bucket hat that had been rejected by Garcia as a gift from Jericho the week before and not wanting the gift to go to waste. The absurd gimmick proved to be popular with fans on social media, leading to Hager to officially adopt it as his persona and tell everyone that he "liked this hat".
Jake Hager in AEW with his signature purple bucket hat.
In his AEW career Jake has already earned two Dynamite Awards, won the âBleacher Reportâ PPV Moment of the Year in his Stadium Stampede match in 2020, and was awarded the âBiggest Beatdownâ award when his team the Inner Circle jumped Orange Cassidy. Jake has had an above average professional wrestling career, and the same goes for MMA, so who knows what could have been if he chose MMA the whole time?
Maybe Jack Swagger is holding heavyweight UFC gold instead of WWE gold. Jake Hagers MMA career so far has been nothing short of exceeding all expectations, and I canât wait to see more from Jake.
MMA Record
| Date | Opponent | Result | Method | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 24, 2020 | Brandon Calton | Win | Decision (Unanimous) | Bellator 250 |
| October 12, 2019 | Anthony Garrett | NC | No Contest (Accidental Foul) | Bellator 231 |
| May 11, 2019 | T.J. Jones | Win | Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) | Bellator 221 |
| January 26, 2019 | J.W. Kiser | Win | Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) | Bellator 214 |