The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is done with professional wrestling.
The former WWE and AEW star made a surprise appearance on Saraya’s podcast, Rulebreakers, and he pretty much confirmed that he was done with professional wrestling.
“I’m getting out of wrestling. I pretty much—I could say I’m retired from it.”
Not only is he done with wrestling, but Hager already has a company going in Florida.
“I started a trucking company and so… running routes through Tampa and Florida. I’m not driving—got people driving. But yeah, I’m excited. Something to stick my teeth into. Hard work always pays off.”
This isn’t much of a surprise since Hager barely did anything once he left AEW in 2024. The former World Heavyweight Champion was fighting for Bellator MMA at one point, but he announced his retirement from that sport back in 2023.
“Officially, I’m retired from MMA,” he said on a K&S Wrestlefest autograph signing. “I trained hard last year, but Bellator was jerking me off, so I retired, and I’m just focusing on wrestling.”
Well, that wrestling part didn’t last too long.
Though Hager had a notable stint in AEW, many remember his time in WWE as Jack Swagger from the early and mid 2000's. The 43-year-old has quite the WWE resume; in addition to being a former World heavyweight Champion, Swagger has won the ECW Championship, United States Championship, and he’s also the 2010 Money in the Bank winner.
However, Swagger’s run as World Heavyweight Champion is often regarded as one of the weakest title reigns in the company’s history. There seemed to be a point where WWE was going to give Swagger another run at the top as he challenged Alberto Del Rio for the world title at WrestleMania 29; however, he was charged with driving under the influence and possession of marijuana in February 2013. That killed his big push and he was sent back down to the mid card after he lost to Del Rio.
Swagger requested his release in 2017 and it was eventually granted. Before jumping over to AEW, Swagger did brief stints in Lucha Underground, Major League Wrestling, and Big Time Wrestling. Now going under the name Jake Hager, he competed in AEW for four years. His most memorable stint was being the muscle for Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle. Hager even had an AEW World title match against Jon Moxley on Dynamite.
However, he again requested his release in 2024. Though he had a couple of matches here and there on the independent scene, Hager seemed to be semi-retired at that point.