Former WWE Stars Were Reportedly Considered For Jake Hager's Spot In The Inner Circle

AEW's Jake Hager spoke on AEW's Unrestricted podcast today about the original plans for The Inner Circle. The former WWE Superstar ended up being part of the original lineup but Hager believes other wrestlers were considered.

"I think what happened was, Gallows and Anderson possibly were going to be in The Inner Circle, but they re-signed," Jake revealed. "So, I got bumped up or I came into the picture, however you want to phrase it. Chris told Tony he wanted me for the job and the rest is history.

"Tony made sure I wasn't a scumbag; he had a couple of phone calls with me and then I got to be Elite. It was great," he said. "I am so glad I got to be part of the groundwork, the beginning team of AEW, I'm very proud of that."

Jake Hager then talked about what his favorite match of the year has been. For him, it was the Blood & Guts match due to the emotions it provided due to the fans returning.

"I really enjoyed, of course, the Stadium Stampede Two. That was just a magical match, very proud to be in that," Hager added. "But more important than that, Blood & Guts, on May 5th. I think it was one of our first matches back in front of an audience and we hadn't felt that normalcy of a pro wrestling show. We hadn't felt the impact of our other character in our show, the fans, they are definitely part of the show.

"I remember coming out. We had the jumpsuits on and we are coming out with the big cage down and they're singing Fozzy. They just erupted, they wanted it so bad," he said. "I think you see a picture of me, I am trying to do my normal scream entrance. But you look at my face, I am crying in my eye because it was so cool to feel that again. Being back, it was like, 'yes, we need that normalcy,' it was powerful for me, I am getting goosebumps now."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.