How and When Chris Jericho Elevated AEW Wrestlers

Name Recognition

When Chris Jericho was Le Champion and AEW was brand new, it would be silly to suggest that Jericho’s name recognition did not aid the fledgling company. As I’ve written recently in 3 Ways Chris Jericho Got AEW’s Key Principles Over, Jericho more than The Elite, became the face/flagbearer of AEW for the masses.

“My job is to just kinda stand obviously in the forefront because of just the name value and the legacy that I have, but the bottom line is always to make sure that those guys continue to grow and get ahead and most importantly get confidence. When you get confidence in this business, you get great, and you can handle any situation.” Chris Jericho, AEW Unrestricted, Transcript from WrestleInc.

His character clearly defined the company’s ethos and established the various top indy stars and new up-and-comers, particularly as the heel sports-entertainment threat to AEW’s promise of something different.

Jericho’s title defenses against Scorpio Sky, Darby Allin, and Jack Perry signaled that these men were future headliners. In the case of all three, their early booking led to all three eventually becoming champions.

Likewise, those associated with Jericho, like The Inner Circle, benefitted greatly. “Le Sex Gods” helped make Sammy Guevara a pillar. Guevara’s vlog and ad-break card gimmick seemed Jericho-esque in how the young man tried to maximize his minutes.

Even when Le Champion was not the champion, Jericho still could spotlight undercard wrestlers who required more work. One of my favorite undercard Pandemic Dynamite matches was Chris Jericho vs. Isiah Kassidy.

Before this match, my opinion of Kassidy was low. His efforts against Jericho convinced me Kassidy, not Marq Quen would be the breakout singles star.

Photocopying a Photocopy

The problem long-term, is that the formula and those things Jericho did to establish AEW and its principles are being repeated five years later.

The pattern became obvious with the strings of the magic trick visible. Undercard guys would wrestle Jericho in a one-off match. There might be some one-week story reasoning.

Usually exemplifying Jericho’s opponents’ unique wrestling/character strengths. Feuds with mid-to-upper carders needing elevating would wrestle Jericho in a series of matches, usually winning the series 2-1. Unique builds would become over time homogeneous.

It’s like photocopying a photocopy. The quality is reduced each time. Think Adam Cole, Eddie Kingston, HOOK. Worse, over time the logic within these feuds rotted away to fulfill the formula.

Ricky Starks ran an unnecessary gauntlet through The Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) to face Jericho, despite already pinning him.

Over time it’s detracted from Jericho and his opponents’ credibility, as well as AEW’s for throwing away logic for tropes.

Take the most recent casualty of the vortex, Mark Briscoe. While giving Jericho the ROH World Championship might be beneficial for TV rights negotiations, the feud with Jericho and the latter’s victory have taken two things away from Briscoe.

In the long term, the heat of evoking Jay Briscoe’s name has been made less impactful.  Short-term, Briscoe’s babyface credibility. The deceptively intelligent chicken farmer openly admitted falling for the same trick twice.

AEW’s storytelling credibility is likewise damaged. Briscoe’s Conglomerate stablemate, Tomohiro Ishi instead of stopping Big Bill’s interference, waited until after the match to challenge Jericho for the championship.

How close are these “friends”? Also, why are The Death Riders allowing this sports-entertainment buffoonery? Isn’t this part of their issue with what AEW has become?

Beyond The Learning Tree  

“You want to feature them as much as possible. That’s 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.” Chris Jericho, AEW Unrestricted, Transcript from WrestleInc.

Success after teaming up or facing Jericho is not guaranteed. And it’s not Jericho’s fault. Creative as well as the wrestlers themselves should take most of the blame.

Being near Jericho put Sammy Guevara on fans’ radars. Yet controversy outside of the ring, along with Guevara’s messy TNT champion runs reduced his status. Creative leaned into the heat Guevara had with fans for dating Tay Conti. Both characters were reduced to a couple obsessed with playing tonsil hockey.

When put with The JAS, their gimmick did not change. Neither were given opportunities to do or be more. Yet arguably, did Guevara try, like he had at the start of his run, to do anything differently?

Daniel Garcia benefitted massively from The JAS. Garcia developed a character and got a dance and a “you’re a wrestler” chant over. The potential turning of Garcia on Jericho was one of the most anticipated angles in 2023.

It was wasted because nothing happened. Garcia’s momentum became hindered. Ironically, Garcia needed that match with Jericho and fans wanted it. Instead, Jericho pivoted to Will Ospreay, only feeding into the “clout vampire” accusations.

Branching Out

As time goes on, those who benefit most from working with Jericho are not opponents but those allied with Jericho who are given the opportunity to develop characters that engage with the audience.

“Daddy Magic” Matt Menard and “Cool Hand” Angelo Parker already had given fans a taste of their abilities as nuisance jobbers. Yet alongside The JAS, Angelo’s declarations to the AEW Galaxy, alongside his amazing hair and Daddy Magic’s hard nipples, made them fixtures.

Post-JAS, both found consistent roles on the card in supporting roles. Parker was entangled weekly in one of wrestling’s strange distortions of a love story on Rampage. Menard as Garcia’s cornerman/mentor/father figure and commentator has helped build other wrestlers’ stories.

Bryan Keith could easily have been lost in the shuffle after signing with AEW. Adrift without a storyline, clear character, or motivations like plenty of AEW’s midcard. Whilst my enjoyment of The Learning Tree is begrudging,

Keith has a role on the show. And angrily telling everyone to respect Chris Jericho at times pops me. While still a pin-eater, the bad apple is more well-rounded because of the minutes he’s been given alongside Jericho.

Big Bill didn’t need Jericho, but he needed something. As an AEW World Tag Champion, Bill had already beaten Jericho. However, by embracing his Learning Tree role, Big Bill has gone the extra time.

His social media life lessons are a joy to watch. Displaying more comic range and making the sports entertainment nonsense digestible and funny has made fans clamber for the wrestler Tony Schiavone labeled “too much man”.

Ironically, by making fans want Big Bill to turn on Jericho, they have only aided fan’s investment in his character.

Are They Listening?

Ultimately, Jericho’s effectiveness in elevating new talent has been mythologized by the man himself as a parody. At five years old, with its future secure, AEW does not need Jericho in the role of elevator/gatekeeper.

Jericho is responsible for his own lack of reinvention. Especially given the change in the wrestling landscape that’s meant sports entertainment has not carried the same heat in AEW after Vince McMahon’s departure from WWE.

Ultimately, AEW Creative and Tony Khan need to move on from this one example of many where an overreliance on tropes and formulas to compensate for storytelling hurts the logic that made AEW distinct from WWE.

And while I and many other fans feel like broken records stating the same things about AEW’s booking of Chris Jericho, as I did in my first article for the site last year, it highlights a significant failure on AEW’s part as the “listening” company.

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling

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