The former AEW World Champion is looking to lend a hand in building the next generation of top stars.
Chris Jericho’s time with AEW thus far has been full of highs and lows. He currently finds himself working with HOOK after his long-running feud with the Don Callis Family seemingly died down due to Kenny Omega being sidelined.
Appearing recently on Gabby AF, Jericho first touched on said storyline being altered, before going on to express that elevating the younger crops of talent within the promotion has always been his aim, despite how some may disagree at times.
“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 and 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 and 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. 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. So, I think HOOK is another guy we’ve done a lot with, I think we can do some more with and add some depth to him and give him a little bit more experience because you’re only as good as the guys that you’re in the ring with and if you look at HOOK versus Samoa Joe, I think that’s probably the best match he’s ever had because Joe has such experience. I think with the experience that I have and then working with HOOK and his persona’s so unique and I think he’s lightning in a bottle, something that we can really get to the next level and that’s kind of what my idea is for this story.”
-Chris Jericho
One of AEW’s hottest prospects, Daniel Garcia, spent a considerable portion of his AEW career thus far working with Jericho as a member of the Jericho Appreciation Society, although since departing the group, many fans believe Garcia has been able to grow further thanks to being away from his now-former mentor.
In response to this, Jericho stated that Garcia gained the confidence to thrive on his own largely thanks to his experience as a member of the JAS, pointing towards both ‘Daddy Magic’ Matt Menard and ‘Cool Hand’ Angelo Parker as further examples of this being the case.
“And 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. When he first came into the Jericho Appreciation Society, I had those guys come in because the storyline worked. I didn’t know anything about any of them to be honest with you. (Angelo) Parker, (Matt) Menard and ‘Cool Hand Ang’, ‘Daddy Magic’. There was no Daddy Magic prior. It was Matt Menard. There was no Cool Hand Ang. It was Jeff Parker and the first thing I said was, ‘You guys gotta change your names…’ I said, ‘Who’s your favorite musical artist?’ And they said whoever it was. I said, ‘If you were going to an exclusive party hosted by this artist; it’s at the top of a penthouse, there’s gonna be Playboy models there, there’s gonna be influencers and celebrities. What would you wear? And I don’t care what that is. What would you wear to go to this top-level party? Because whatever it is, that’s what I want you to wear next week on TV’ and they all showed up with their various outfits and right away, they’re different guys. Dani’s a sports entertainer. When he said that he got heat, well, ‘I’ll try dancing.’ Dude, you need to entertain. Once again, great matches are important but character is everything. The dance put him into a completely different level. That wasn’t there before he was in Jericho Appreciation Society so, all of those things work to help build your persona and like I said, that’s something that I’m very proud of Dani for; what he’s able to do because he’s not the same performer he was two years ago when he first came into the JAS.”
-Chris Jericho
During this past Wednesday’s AEW: Big Business, Jericho and HOOK scored a victory of Gates of Agony, after which Jericho approached HOOK to set up a singles match between the pair for next week’s Dynamite in Toronto, Canada.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future plans for Chris Jericho as soon as we hear more.
H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
