"The Learning Tree" of AEW, Chris Jericho, is a man of 1004 holds and may be a man of 1004 nicknames by the time his career is done. Jericho continues to turn negatives into positives, finding ways to evolve and/or re-invent himself to create new stories and opportunities to work with different talent. Jericho recently celebrated his 24th anniversary in pro wrestling and while joining "AEW Unrestricted," and the inaugural AEW World Champion commented on working with younger wrestlers such as "The Redwood" Big Bill and "The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith, and criticism he receives from it.
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"You want to feature them as much as possible," Jericho said. "That's the one of the things critics would say, 'Oh, Jericho's selfish and blah blah blah,' but that's how you get fans to understand who these guys are. I did it with Danny Garcia, I did it with Sammy Guevara, I did it with MJF, I did it with Orange Cassidy. 'Who are these guys?' And then you work with them and then people get more comfortable with who they are."
Veteran wrestlers typically use the later stage of their careers to help develop younger talent. Throughout Jericho's career, he wrestled legends such as Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Scott Hall, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan, all of whom were veterans who gave Jericho their time in the ring to help build the future of pro wrestling. Now, the AEW star believes that he's playing a similar role.
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Chris Jericho, now 53-years-old and with 34 years experience in pro wrestling, knows that he has a role to play at this stage in his career. During the interview, he explained why he plays an important role in AEW developing younger stars.
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"My job is to just kinda stand obviously in the forefront because of just the name value and the legacy that I have," Jericho explained. "But the bottom line is to always make sure that those guys continue to grow and get ahead and most importantly get confidence. When you get confidence in this business, that's when you get great, and you can handle any situation."
Jericho brought up his feud with HOOK, where he dropped the FTW title,and working with Jack Perry as more examples of younger talent he has worked with and given advice to, stating that has noticed Perry gaining confidence. "You're getting to figure out who you are as a performer and where you stand in the business and in the company, and that's where guys really continue to grow."
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Jericho doesn't plan on retiring any time soon either, as he believes that he has plenty to offer AEW. This news might not please his critics, but it's clear that he's still having fun.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "AEW Unrestricted" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
