On AEW Dynamite this week, Chris Jericho made reference to Jake Hager having saved him from an “assassination attempt” in Abu Dhabi in 2012. Jericho appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio recently and detailed what exactly took place during this situation.
“That is a true story. He didn’t save me from assassination but he did have my back,” Jericho said on the show. “We were in Abu Dhabi and we were in a club and some guy was being a jerk so I just walked by him and gave him a body check, body checked him into the wall, a good o’l fashioned hockey move.”
“He claimed that his father owned, and I quote, 27% of the country and that I would be assassinated by the end of the day, like in 24 hours. I had a bounty for $7 million on my head.”
Jericho continued to say that he asked the person if $7 million was a good number for a bounty and what other size bounties are given in similar situations.
“Hager was behind me going ‘dude, this is the wild west, don’t mess with this guy.'”
Jericho would later say that he went back to his room and was thinking he wouldn’t go out again until things blew over. Eventually, he was convinced to go back to the same club, however.
“I go back to the club and the bouncer’s there and he goes ‘oh, you haven’t been assassinated yet’ and it’s like ‘no, should I be worried?’ and he goes ‘that m***erf***ker says that all the time. His dad doesn’t own the country, he owns a gas station down the street.’ But at the time we didn’t know and Jake had my back when I was threatened with assassination in Abu Dhabi.”