All Elite Wrestling world champion Chris Jericho was a recent guest on Mature Audiences Mayhem to talk about his contributions to AEW since joining the promotion back in January. Jericho states that without his name recognition the brand doesn’t get picked up by Turner, nor does former WWE superstar Jon Moxley jump ship. The champ even claims to have recruited Moxley himself.
If not for Chris Jericho being involved, maybe we don’t get the deal with TNT We don’t get Jon Moxley, who I recruited, or Sammy Guevara, Dean Malenko, a couple of guys you haven’t even seen yet. So I think that, maybe [I’m] not the greatest of all-time, but the best longevity at staying at the top level in all of these different eras and influencing quite a few of them, I don’t know if there are too many people who have done that as much as I have.
Later, Jericho discusses the WWE versus AEW war that is upcoming, referencing Game of Thrones and expressing how much better it is for talent because now Vince McMahon is willing to pay them not to go anywhere.
I had no intention of wrestling anywhere other than for Vince McMahon, and then the Japan thing came up. I basically got Vince McMahon’s blessing and got his blessing to sign on for more shows. When the AEW thing came out, I told him the offer and he said for me to take it. I took it and when I told him, he said, ‘You took it? Can you get out of it?’ I said that you told me to take it. You didn’t match it, you didn’t try. Once I signed, suddenly everyone gets double raises because he doesn’t want anyone to leave. So just because of that alone, I now made everyone in the business double what they were making. And for that, I demand a thank you.
They might not think we’re competition or they may not say it, but I told the guys that we are in a war. And they respond with, ‘Well, we don’t want a war,’ but I said, ‘Too f–king bad, you’re in it because Vince McMahon is now opening up his pocketbooks.’ Which he should have done before because he can afford it, but these guys that are now making $400,000-$500,000 a year that would make $40 on an indie show. But he doesn’t want anybody to leave, so that’s how you know. I told them that they have to be ready because this is Vince McMahon about ready to fight back, and I told Cody Rhodes a couple of days ago that, ‘Winter is coming.’ If you are a Game of Thrones fan, they’re coming. You might think that it might not be back, but when we’re lined up against a wall, they’re coming, so they better watch out because it’s going to be a war. I have been in a war before during The Monday Night Wars in 1998-1999.
Check out the full podcast here.
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)
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