Singing Chris Jericho’s theme “Judas” has become a staple of AEW television as the song took on a life of its own when AEW filmed television on Jericho’s cruise.
When Jericho formed The Jericho Appreciation Society and turned heel, he would continue to use Judas despite it being a popular sing-along regardless of whether Jericho is a face or a heel.
Speaking to Swerve Strickland and Monteasy on the Swerve City podcast, Jericho revealed that a new version of “Judas” was created, but ultimately nixed by Tony Khan.
“When I turned heel and we did the Jericho Appreciation Society, Rich Ward actually came up with a remix for Judas. It’s a little less sing-along and it was different. Tony didn’t want to do it. He wanted to keep the original song. A lot of people go, ‘You’re such a heel, why do you have a song that everyone sings to.’ He had a great point. If we kill the song, you get one week of heat, then what do you do with your music? You just have ring music. We have something that organically was created by our audience when they started singing Judas. Do you cut your nose off to spite your face and take away one of the trademarks of our show just because I’m a bad guy? Does it really matter either way? You’re killing a great moment just because you don’t want people cheering. The whole concept of what wrestling is, is to get people cheering and get people involved. Once the match starts, I’ll get the heat. That song is so much a hallmark of Dynamite and AEW, to not play it just because I turned heel would be a disservice to something we created that is special. He had a great point. As soon as he pointed it out, I was like, ‘You’re totally right.’ People just like to be involve and sing along,”
Chris Jericho on Swerve City Podcast
When the JAS was formed, AEW added a spoken intro for the theme.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
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