Former AEW star Jake Hager recently shared some sharp criticism of AEW and Tony Khan during an interview with Chris Van Vliet. His comments quickly gained attention, and now longtime AEW announcer Jim Ross has weighed in with his perspective on Hager’s frustrations.

On his podcast, Ross explained that Hager’s remarks came from a place of disappointment rather than malice.

“He’s got a lot of pent-up frustration. Yeah, quite honestly, he’s not a bad person. Jake is not a bad person whatsoever, no, but he’s very frustrated, or was very frustrated. Hopefully he’s got that past him and he’s going to focus more on his creative energy to his trucking company…It shows you how much he loved doing what he did because he became a fan. As I said, he wasn’t born a fan, and I find that ironic, considering he and [Danny] Hodge are from the same hometown.”

Ross went on to add that Hager’s career did not unfold the way he may have envisioned, despite his natural size and talent.

“I think he’s frustrated. He didn’t get it all out of the business that he would like to have at the end of the day… Sometimes it doesn’t end the way that one would like for it to. It’s tough to deal with. You get frustrated, and it’s just a mind game at that point, because that’s some of which had all the physical tools he needed to be a huge star, an athletic big man. He’s six, five, maybe six, six, I’m not sure…he’s a good dude, and I’m glad he’s doing well, at least. I hope that he’s going to do well.”

Ross closed by noting that while Hager may not have achieved everything he wanted in wrestling, he still respects his passion and hopes his future endeavors bring him success.