John Cena Refused To Lose WWE World Title To Jake Hager

John Cena was undoubtedly one of the biggest draws for the WWE for more than a decade. Cena is also known to help younger superstars develop into mega-stars and put over various top prospects in front of millions of eyes. However, Cena refused to ignite the push of many superstars also, and Jake Hager is one of them.

Jake Hager, formerly known as Jack Swagger, competed in the WWE under the gimmick of an All-American athlete with a collegiate wrestling background from Oklahoma. Jake’s incredible size and strength made him a huge prospect in the eyes of the WWE higher-ups. This led to Hager winning multiple championships and accolades in the WWE. However, he requested his release in 2017 which was granted by the company. Jake later signed with WWE’s rival, AEW in 2019 and since then has been competing for Tony Khan’s promotion.

The former All-American American was in the middle of a monster push in 2010, that led to Hager capturing the opportunist Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania 26. Jake Hager tried to cash it in on John Cena the very next night, but retreated after being overpowered by the Cenation Leader. Later on, he successfully cashed it in on Chris Jericho two days later to become the World Heavyweight Champion. During an appearance on Talk is Jericho podcast, Hager claimed that Cena bluntly refused to drop the title to him.

“The night before [Hager’s cash-in on Jericho], I teased it on RAW where I would almost hit Cena with the briefcase. I snuck up on him, and then we had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later come find out he refused to do the job for me for the world championship, but we won’t talk about that.” 

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Jake Hager tried his first cash-in attempt on John Cena on the RAW after WrestleMania, when Cena held the WWE Championship. Hager’s run as the World Heavyweight Champion came to an end in just two months, losing the title to Rey Mysterio in a Fatal-4 Way match at the namesake pay-per-view.

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