{"id":59779,"date":"2018-05-10T23:10:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T04:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=59779"},"modified":"2018-05-10T23:10:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T04:10:03","slug":"interview-highlights-jake-hager-a-k-a-jack-swagger-talks-about-leaving-wwe-timing-of-his-first-bellator-fight-wrestling-for-mlw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/05\/10\/interview-highlights-jake-hager-a-k-a-jack-swagger-talks-about-leaving-wwe-timing-of-his-first-bellator-fight-wrestling-for-mlw\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview Highlights: Jake Hager (a\/k\/a Jack Swagger) talks about leaving WWE, timing of his first Bellator fight, wrestling for MLW"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3771157853\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>The following are highlights of Jake Hager (a\/k\/a Jack Swagger) speaking to CBS Sports about\u00a0about whether he regrets leaving WWE, his progress in training for Bellator MMA, and now returning to pro wrestling for MLW. He has signed for\u00a0five shows.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2022It has been just over a year since you left WWE. Do you harbor any ill feelings about your time there?\u00a0<\/b>No. I look back at my career and I\u2019m very thankful. Successful people don\u2019t look back and waste energy on what could have been and all the stuff that didn\u2019t happen. \u2026 If my fans want to see me back in the WWE, you know, never say never, but we got a big agenda ahead of us for 2018 that we\u2019re pretty excited about.<br \/>\n<b><br \/>\n\u2022MLW hasn\u2019t shied away from investing in putting on a show with high production value. Do you even consider this to be an independent promotion with the national TV deal? <\/b>Personally, I hate the terms indies or independent promotion when it comes to professional wrestling. I feel like it\u2019s a stigma that\u2019s attached to it that no longer exists. Of course, there are the bad ones, but I think these promotions are just like self-run businesses now. I think a promotion like MLW which has really built a name and a brand and has a TV deal is definitely not an independent promotion. I look at them as a promotion with a television show with great opportunities.\u00a0[If you look at who\u2019s there], Tony Schiavone is just one, but the roster is incredible here and it\u2019s just going to be so exciting to see the product.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2022You announced late last year that you had signed with Bellator with a goal of fighting at some point this year. How\u2019s training going?\u00a0<\/b>The hard work\u2019s paying off and the hard training is only making my body feel better. It\u2019s crazy. When I left [WWE] last year I was pretty banged up and not in that good of shape. And this crossing over into a new world has really forced me to focus on my body and I feel 24 again.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2022Are you still on track to fight this year or are we looking at early 2019?\u00a0<\/b>We\u2019re looking at end of 2018. I got really busy with pro wrestling so we pushed the date back, but at the end of 2018 I\u2019m going to come out and I will make a statement.<\/p>\n<p>In other topics in the full interview, he talks about C.M. Punk&#8217;s return to UFC for a second fight being schedule, whether his pairing with Col.\u00a0Robert Parker in MLW will evolve into a Zen Colter type of relationship, and who he wants to wrestle in MLW. Full interview <a href=\"http:\/\/sports.cbslocal.com\/2018\/04\/26\/jack-swagger-signs-with-mlw-one-year-after-leaving-wwe\/\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/05\/01\/interview-highlights-lex-luger-discusses-being-arrested-night-of-elizabeths-death-his-relationship-with-randy-savage-before-and-after-lizs-death\/\">Interview Highlights: Lex Luger discusses being arrested night of Elizabeth\u2019s death, his relationship with Randy Savage before and after Liz\u2019s death<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3576947141\"><div id=\"pwtor-3901842266\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The following are highlights of Jake Hager (a\/k\/a Jack Swagger) speaking to CBS Sports about\u00a0about whether he regrets leaving WWE, his progress in training for Bellator MMA, and now returning to pro wrestling for MLW. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/05\/10\/interview-highlights-jake-hager-a-k-a-jack-swagger-talks-about-leaving-wwe-timing-of-his-first-bellator-fight-wrestling-for-mlw\/\" title=\"Interview Highlights: Jake Hager (a\/k\/a Jack Swagger) talks about leaving WWE, timing of his first Bellator fight, wrestling for MLW\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4247,51,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights","category-news_mma","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/SwaggerJackWK2_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59780,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59779\/revisions\/59780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}