AEW was left without direction after Cody Rhodes' departure, according to Jake Hager

Jake Hager has launched harsh criticisms towards Tony Khan in the last few hours. In addition to attacking the President of AEW for using his wrestlers as puppets, he stated that the departure of Cody Rhodes in 2022 left a huge void in AEW's creative direction and that, since then, the company lost a large part of its internal organization.

In statements to Sportskeeda Wrestlebinge, the former Inner Circle member recalled that Rhodes was not only one of the visible faces of the company, but also a key piece in story development. Without him, things spiraled out of control:

There are assistants who write the stories for him, but no one capable of telling him no. I think everything changed after Cody left, because he was involved in the creative area, and after that, it became chaos.

Hager also pointed out communication problems with Khan. Even Chris Jericho, one of the most influential names in the company, reportedly went weeks without receiving a response to his messages. Additionally, production meetings were canceled and wrestlers received instructions last minute, sometimes just hours before the shows started.

The wrestler, who is supposedly officially retired, also described the difficulties in presenting new ideas: talents had to wait until the early hours to be able to talk to Tony Khan, and even then the responses were often vague and lacked continuity. For Hager, all of this reflected that AEW had ceased to be a real priority for its president.

Despite this outlook, Hager acknowledges that the company continues forward, but insists that Cody Rhodes' departure marked a before and after in the company's direction. According to him, AEW never regained the same structure or creative solidity it had in its early years.