After being the butt of more than a few jokes over the past six or so months, Chris Jericho did something rather unusual ahead of his AEW Dynasty feud with Hook: he turned heel.

Now granted, Jericho has probably spent more of his professional wrestling career as a heel than a babyface, as he knows a thing or two about how to get heat – cheap or otherwise – from a professional wrestling audience, but this heel turn was somewhat unusual because nothing about his efforts were traditionally “bad.” Instead of wearing leather jackets, forming a faction dedicated to his own greatness, or using baseball bats to get ahead, Jericho instead was trying to pass on his knowledge, be overly positive, and even wear shirts for the first time in what feels like forever, all of which are usually signs of a veteran babyface.

What gives? Well, as it turns out, this was all intentional, as Jericho saw the negativity sent his way in AEW and decided to turn it around in his favor via the “Learning Tree,” using what fans said against them in order to get himself over once more, just like he's done dozens of times before in his four-decade spanning career, as he explained in an interview on the Kevin Karius Show.

“I just started doing this Learning Tree gimmick a few weeks ago. That's the best thing about wrestling, when people start to get mad at you, you turn into a bad guy and when people like you, you turn into a good guy,” Chris Jericho explained via the Kevin Karius Show. “This is the start of this whole new persona as we continue the story. That's the most important thing about wrestling, the story. The matches are important, but the characters and the storylines are what really draws people into watching you and draws people into following what you're doing. To me, that's always been the most important thing.”

Asked what exactly is the “Learning Tree,” Jericho laid it out, explaining how he leaned into what he actually does to create something brand new.

“The teacher. I've been doing this for a long time. I thought, what's a cool way to personify that and make people mad?” Jericho asked. “I've been doing this at a high level, I thought, I'll adopt this persona of being the seasoned vet that teaches the rookies the ways of the game. That's how it started, and the way we've portrayed it, people get really mad at me for it. That's what you want. By being the seasoned vet who knows everything, that makes people mad at me. That's wrestling for you.”

Is Jericho officially out of the woods, with fans fully back on his side now that he's become the sort of heel they can get behind moving forward? It's impossible to know, but considering where he was a few months back, with fans chanting “Please Retire” at him during Pay-Per-View matches – multiple – it's worth wondering if the do-it-all grappler has found another gimmick to sink his teeth into and prolong his career even further into the future.

Jim Ross explains Chris Jericho's debut in WWE.

Speaking of Chris Jericho trying something new instead of resting on his laurels, Jim Ross reflected on “Y2J's” debut in WWE over two decades ago, with the long-time announcer having to put in extra work to get him in Vince McMahon's good graces due to… well, his (lack of) size.

“I was always very high on Chris Jericho. You know, the only thing I had to overcome was the fact to Vince [McMahon] that Jericho was not six feet tall. And that may sound so bulls**t, but it's a fact. Vince loved big guys. Jericho had a great body and was athletic, he was in shape. He looked good. But he wasn't 6'2 ′ or 6'3. He might have been 5'11”. But that was one hurdle to overcome to get Vince to sign off on Chris,” Jim Ross explained via 411 Mania.

“But when I showed Vince some tape of Jericho and actually like a little highlight reel, he was sold. Because Chris could work with anybody, he still can. You know, it's good for me as an old-timer when I go to the pay-per-views at AEW — my thanks to Tony Khan for facilitating that — I enjoy seeing everybody there. But seeing guys there with whom I have a long history, Chris and I talk about that all the time.”

Is it hard to imagine a world where Jericho didn't land in WWE and become a certified Hall of Fame-level talent? Sure thing, Jericho's impact on WWE in borderline unmatched, from his accomplishments, to his feuds, and even his insight into match types like Money in the Bank, which he helped to invent alongside Brian Gewirtz. Fortunately, JR was able to get him where he needed to be; otherwise, wrestling as we know it now might be completely different.