AEW: Five possible opponents for Jake Hager’s first match

After debuting on the AEW Dynamite premiere and joining Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle stable, we’ve yet to see the towering Jake Hager in the squared circle. That should all change following his upcoming Bellator MMA bout on Oct. 25.

Wrestling fans will be familiar with Hager for his almost 10-year spell with WWE under the moniker Jack Swagger.

The former All-American from the University of Oklahoma might also be familiar to MMA fans for his recent pair of matches under the Bellator banner where he competes as a heavyweight. Both fights ending via arm-triangle chokes.

After a quick two year tour on the independents, appearances in Lucha Underground and MLW, then a successful kick-off to his MMA career, Hager is back on our television sets as the hired muscle in Chris Jericho’s ‘Inner Circle’.

While Hager has yet to compete in an AEW ring, the flashes of violence we have seen have us convinced he didn’t sign with All Elite to look pretty in a polo.

Here’s our list of five possible opponents for Jake Hager:

5. Dustin Rhodes

We’ve already been blessed with a small glimpse of this confrontation after the second episode of ‘Dynamite’ ended in an all-out brawl between the Elite, The Rhodes’ and the ‘Inner Circle’.

For us, Hager facing off against Dustin Rhodes in his debut just makes total sense. Two relatively imposing figures who have worked together before and who could have a believable hard-hitting match.

We could quite easily set this up with Hager hunting Rhodes backstage, beating him down, and Dustin challenging him to a match. This would be a great opportunity for Dustin to put Jake over without the need for squash matches.

4. Luchasaurus

Another big man on the AEW roster is Jurassic Express’ Luchasaurus.

Having said that, we’re not only thinking this could be an interesting match because both competitors are tall and strong. We firmly believe this could make for a stylistically compelling match.

With Hager taking a deep dive into the MMA world as of late and Luchasaurus throwing kicks around like he’s shopping for sneakers, there’s enormous potential for a very interesting fight.

It’s safe to say these two wouldn’t shy away from jaw-dropping spots mixed with shoot style exchanges that would have the AEW crowd on their feet.

Similar to what they did with Cody and Darby Allin, we could see this going to a time limit draw after both men have given it everything they have. Which would be followed by either a TV time limit match a week later or a full-fledged rematch at ‘Full Gear’.

With Luchasaurus being so incredibly over for the past four months, I don’t even want to begin booking the winner of this match. Should Hager even lose a match to any of the names on this list or should AEW keep that feeling of invincibility around his character?

3. Shawn Spears

Things haven’t exactly been positive for the former Mr. Dillinger following his loss to Cody at ‘All Out’ and it seems as though his character has been all over the place.

Adding Tully Blanchard as a manager made sense for the face-off with Cody due to Tully’s history with Dusty Rhodes but we’re not really sure how relevant it is anymore.

Especially since Arn Anderson spine-busted Spears into oblivion.

Again, having the ‘Chairman of AEW’ gimmick made sense because he cracked Cody’s head open with a dangerous chair shot but he hasn’t really been hitting anyone with chairs since. Hell, PAC has been smacking people with chairs for the past three weeks.

A long-play storyline with Hager where Spears tries protect his spot on the upper mid-card by actually using a chair on Hager could be interesting if executed correctly.

Unfortunately for the ‘Perfect Ten’, we wouldn’t see him winning this match.

2. MJF

Having Hager work an angle with MJF–which could easily be triggered by Jake attacking Cody during his match with Jericho at ‘Full Gear’–could do wonders for both men and for the ‘MJF turns on Cody’ storyline they are clearly trying to build.

MJF’s mouth sells this match by itself, on top of the recent confrontations Cody has had with Jericho and the ‘Inner Circle’.

Hager has been a man of

few

no words since joining AEW, which is understandable because you want him to do his talking in the ring. We can let MJF handle the microphone and set both of them up to look good in the process.

1. Cody Rhodes

With Cody facing off against Hager’s ‘Inner Circle’ compatriot Chris Jericho at ‘Full Gear’, an interference by Jake–effectively costing Cody the precious ‘World Title’ that has eluded him–would be the catalyst for a very interesting angle.

It would also keep Cody in a feud with the ‘Inner Circle’ and in the title picture.

I’m envisioning Jericho being so confident in Hager’s ability that he gives Cody a rematch if The American Nightmare can beat Hager one on one in a cage match.

After a series of attacks by Hager leading up to the match, a bruised and battered Cody wins by submission in the cage and gets another title shot in 2020.

Again, we’re not looking to predict these matches–or even looking to put Hager over. We’re simply saying these any one of these individuals could spearhead Jake Hager’s welcome committee.

Some matches would be a part of bigger angles, other matches would simply showcase Hager’s talent in the ring while cementing his place as one of the most dangerous athletes on the roster.

Whichever way you slice it, AEW’s margin of error is very small with this one. They’ll want to protect the investment they’ve made without affecting the progression of other big names on their roster.

We’ve only seen one squash match on AEW TV so far, maybe that’s a route the All Elite brass is considering for Hager’s first few matches.

What about you, who do you think faces off with Hager in his debut? Comment below.