Jake Hager has made it clear he has no fond memories of how his AEW run ended, as he recently unleashed on Tony Khan, calling him unprofessional and dismissive of the wrestlers who helped build the company.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Hager revealed that his passion for wrestling started to fade after the second Blood and Guts match in Las Vegas against Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli. Once his first AEW contract expired, he felt the renewal process was unfair, one-sided, and showed that Khan no longer wanted him around.

“It was right after the second Blood and Guts in Vegas with Daniel Bryan and Cesaro. My first contract with AEW was up, and after that, the negotiation process was very one-sided. I could tell he didn’t want me there. And I’ll say this every day, and everyone else should too: f*** Tony Khan.

He offered me a year and a half. I was like, bro, I did Stadium Stampede twice, don’t act like Stampede didn’t put AEW on the map. I was in the debut episode, I was the big spoiler, and you offer me 18 months after all that?”

Hager, who played a role in some of AEW’s most memorable matches including Stadium Stampede, believed the short-term offer was proof Khan did not value his contributions.

He also criticized the way Khan ran the company, especially after the fallout from the CM Punk drama. According to Hager, the roster held a private meeting with Sting, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley to address the issues, but Khan interrupted in an outburst that left many of them feeling disrespected.

“It was that, and the way he started running the business, he wasn’t professional. After all the CM Punk stuff went down, the boys got together for a meeting. This was just us, no office people. Sting was there, Big Show, Jericho, Bryan, and Mox, all trying to talk us through the situation.

And then who storms in? Daddy’s little billionaire. He comes in yelling at us, I think it was Dax and Cash who didn’t like the storyline, so they didn’t come to TV that day. Tony was like, ‘Listen, I’ll put you in a six-man, six minutes before the show, and you’re gonna do it!’ And all of us felt disrespected. I wish I stood up and said more, because you just told Sting you’ll throw him in a six-man with six minutes notice, and then you’re gonna honor him for his retirement?”

Hager went on to say that Khan treated the wrestlers like toys rather than professionals, focusing too much on big debuts without any long-term vision.

“We became his little playthings. We had to wait outside his office. His storylines, he was good at debuts, but he could never carry anything through. It got to the point where you couldn’t tell him anything. He couldn’t take criticism, he was f***ing up, and we were all stuck dealing with it. We were there from the beginning, with our careers behind us, helping build that company. And then we had to just sit back and do nothing because he wanted to run it his way.”

This is not the first time Hager has spoken about his frustrations. He previously accused Khan of threatening his job due to his political beliefs, even going as far as labeling him a communist.