While speaking on the latest episode of Geordie Podcast, Chris Jericho talked about how he carried AEW on his back during the first few months. He also bragged about reinventing wrestlers for AEW.
“When we started AEW, it was solely on my back. I really believe that because if you look at the roster, unless you were a hardcore wrestling fan, no one f*cking knew any of those guys. (…) I have three-to-six months to make as many stars as I can, because if not, I can’t — as great as I am and as great as I think I am, if I’m the only guy on the show for six months and the only star, it’s gonna die.”
“Think about Cody when AEW started, he was not the Cody that he is now. Nobody knew who Kenny Omega was, Darby Allin, Scorpio Sky. [Jon] Moxley, he was not the guy that he is now when he came into our company. (…) Who’s Sammy Guevara? I didn’t know how Santana, Ortiz was. Jake Hager was not the guy he is now. He was a useless character in WWE. So we built these stars in three months and that’s when we got a television deal for $160 million for four years.”
Chris Jericho On The True Geordie Podcast
Jericho was without a doubt one of the first major stars AEW had, with him being one of the first AEW World Champions also. Jericho is currently in a feud with Eddie Kingston that looks set to have its blowoff match at AEW Fyter Fest Week 2 next week, where the two will battle in a Barbed Wire Deathmatch.
H/T RingsideNews for transcription
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