Chris Jericho Champions the Elevation of Young Talent in AEW

Chris Jericho has expressed his dedication to fostering the growth of emerging talent within AEW, highlighting his efforts to work alongside younger wrestlers like Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, and MJF, and his recent storyline involvement with FTW Champion HOOK.

During an appearance on Gabby AF, Jericho opened up about the unexpected changes to his storyline prompted by Kenny Omega's absence due to illness. "Yeah, well, things got kind of thrown into a loop storyline-wise when Kenny (Omega) got sick and so, you do the best you can when you have to switch midstream and we kind of did the best we could with the Don Callis story and then it was kind of time to go into something new," Jericho explained, attributing the quote to Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling. He elaborated on his decision to work with HOOK, saying, "The idea of working with HOOK was something I had thought about for a while and it just really kind of seemed to fit with the match that we had at Revolution with the eight-man Scramble and HOOK was in that. I thought, well let’s do something with this and the story’s just beginning. But, I think we got some good ideas and some good stuff going on. That’s kind of what my mission in AEW has been since day one is to do the best I can to elevate the younger guys and in contrary to popular belief, which you might see, it usually works."

Jericho also reflected on the impact of his collaborations, noting, "Most of the time when people work with me, they end up on a higher platform than they were prior. If you look at Orange Cassidy to Darby Allin to MJF… (Powerhouse) Hobbs and (Konosuke) Takeshita and all those guys. The list goes on and on and on. Even the guys in The Inner Circle and the Jericho Appreciation Society. I mean, look at Dani Garcia now compared to where he was a year ago."

Addressing critics, Jericho defended his influence on Daniel Garcia and others. "That’s the thing when people are like, ‘Oh, Dani Garcia, once he got away from Jericho, he really started to blossom’ but it’s like, that’s where he kind of learned and got that confidence," he said. Jericho further highlighted the transformation and growth of Matt Menard and Angelo Parker under his guidance, emphasizing the importance of character development in wrestling.

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— Ben Jordan Kerin Mar 15, 2024 05:30PM