Jake Hager Says John Cena Refused To Drop The WWE Championship To Him In 2010

In March 2010, Jake Hager (Jack Swagger in WWE) was the holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase, giving him a shot at either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship at any moment.

Hager ended up cashing in on Chris Jericho, winning the World Heavyweight Title in the process, but the original plan seemed to call for him to cash in on John Cena and the WWE Championship.

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Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, Hager discussed how his cash-in on Jericho, and not Cena, came about.

"I had a little inclination, but I had no idea what was going to happen. The night before, I teased it on Raw. I hit Cena with the briefcase, I snuck up on him when he had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later, come to find out, he refused to do the job for me for the [WWE] Championship. We won't talk about that. Ugh. 'The most unselfish top man in the business,'" Hager said sarcastically.

Discussing his cash-in on Jericho, Hager recalled the details of what happened on that night, saying, "That was in Phoenix. I got a call that night to come to Vegas. We get to the building, I get there 30 minutes early so I'm waiting. I see [John Laurinaitis] go into the office, here you [Jericho] come, here Edge comes, I was going to come in behind you guys, then the door shuts. It was about five minutes, then I go in there. When we were in there and it was laid out, you turned to me and were like, 'You better not fuck this up,' and you were dead serious and very sincere. It always reminded me of my best wrestling coach. Once you said that, I looked up to you and knew I could trust you."

Hager won the Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania XXVI and cashed in less than a week later when he defeated Jericho on SmackDown. He would hold the World Heavyweight Title for 79 days on television before losing it to Rey Mysterio at WWE Fatal 4-Way.

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