Jake Hager
Donald Jacob Hager Jr. 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 as Jake Hager. As a mixed martial artist, he was signed to Bellator MMA and competed in the heavyweight division.
Hager attended the University of Oklahoma as a two-sport athlete, participating in both football and wrestling. He switched to wrestling full-time in his sophomore year, and in 2006, set the record for most pins in a season with 30 as an All-American. 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. He left the company in 2017 after he decided to pursue a professional mixed martial arts career.
In 2017, Hager signed with Bellator MMA. He had his first professional fight on January 26, 2019, against J.W. Kiser at Bellator 214, where he won via arm-triangle choke in the first round. In his second fight with the promotion, he faced T.J. Jones on May 11, 2019, at Bellator 221, where he again won via arm-triangle choke in the first round. Hager announced his retirement from MMA in September 2023. He was undefeated with a record of 3–0. As a wrestler, he kept working with various promotions before signing with AEW in 2019, including in Lucha Underground as Jake Strong, where he was the final Lucha Underground Champion.
Early life and amateur wrestling career
Hager started wrestling at the age of five. He wrestled in high school with Danny Hodge's grandson and remained good friends with Hodge as he grew up living two blocks away from him in Perry, Oklahoma.The University of Oklahoma recruited Hager as a two-sport athlete in 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 '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. As a senior in 2006, Hager had a seventh-place finish in the NCAA championships and also defeated the future national champion, Dustin Fox from Northwestern University. Hager was named an All-American at season's end while setting the Oklahoma record for most pins in a single season with 30.
In 2006, Hager graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor's degree in finance. Following his graduation, he was going to work with a firm in Dallas, Texas, but signed with WWE after they offered a contract the day he was scheduled to start.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2006–2017)
Developmental territories (2006–2008)
In 2006, Hager had a WWE tryout in Deep South Wrestling, and in September 2006, under his real name, he made his in-ring debut for DSW, defeating Antonio Mestre in a dark match.He competed mainly in dark matches before being moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling in January 2007. He debuted for the promotion by defeating Atlas DaBone, and in the following months began a feud with K.C. James. Hager began teaming with a multitude of opponents to feud with James and his tag team partner Cassidy James. During his time in the developmental territories he appeared as a security guard during a brawl between John Cena and Umaga on Raw.
In August 2007, Hager was reassigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, 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. Hager then defeated DiBiase to become champion. On March 22, 2008, Hager went against the FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion Heath Miller in New Port Richey, Florida to determine the true Heavyweight Champion. Both championships were on the line, and Hager defeated Miller to become the undisputed heavyweight champion in FCW. He later defended the championship against Miller, TJ Wilson, James Curtis, and Gabe Tuft.
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. He then lost the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus O'Shaunessy on September 18, after debuting for the ECW brand.
Championship reigns (2008–2010)
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 attacked Dreamer on the September 23 episode of ECW when Dreamer attempted to stop Swagger from attacking Chase Stevens. He later defeated Dreamer in a normal match and an "Amateur Wrestling Challenge" competition. After weeks of feuding, their rivalry ended in November in an Extreme Rules match, which Swagger won.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. He lost the ECW Championship to Christian at Backlash on April 26, ending his reign at 104 days. He attempted to regain the title against Christian at Judgment Day on May 17 and in a triple threat hardcore match at Extreme Rules on June 7 also involving Dreamer but was unsuccessful in both attempts. His attempt to win the ECW Championship at The Bash on June 28 in an ECW Championship Scramble also failed.
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. 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. He had a title match on the September 21 episode of Raw against Kofi Kingston but lost the match by countout after stealing the championship belt and leaving the arena with it but Kingston later took it back while Swagger was in a physical confrontation with The Miz. Swagger made another unsuccessful attempt at the title at Hell in a Cell on October 4 in a triple threat match against Kingston and The Miz. At the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2010, Swagger entered at number 26 in the Royal Rumble match, but was later eliminated by Kofi Kingston.
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. As the match had never started, Swagger retained the contract for use at a future date.
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. 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. The match was called one of the best that year.
Swagger later began being accompanied to the ring by his mascot, the Swagger Soaring Eagle, who was portrayed by Chavo Guerrero. At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs on December 19, Swagger competed in a triple threat ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston and champion Dolph Ziggler, in which Ziggler retained.