Chris Jericho has wrestled hundreds and hundreds of different wrestlers over his professional wrestling career.
From Ultimo Dragon in CMLL, to Rob Van Dam in ECW, Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan, Cody Rhodes in AEW, and about a dozen major names from Shawn Michaels to Kevin Owens in WWE, “The Ocho” has worked against some of the best wrestlers in the world over his 30 year career, and will likely continue to work massive matches in his current home, even as his career starts to wind down.
Discussing the potential for rematches with fellow former WWE stars like Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in AEW as part of an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Jericho noted that he isn't necessarily looking to rehash those feuds moving forward, as there are just too many new and interesting performers in the AEW Galaxy that he'd like to mix it up with.
“There’s no timeline on what I’m doing. So there’s really, probably no rush. I have a different opinion. I’ve wrestled Adam Copeland so many times and Christian so many times that I would rather not wrestle against those guys,” Chris Jericho said via Wrestling Headlines. “I mean, obviously, we could have a great match. But I really enjoy working with kind of everybody that I haven’t worked with before. I think Swerve Strickland is amazing. I think Mark Briscoe is amazing, just off the top of my head of guys I’ve never stepped in the ring with. Both of those guys would be a lot of fun to have matches with. So I think right now, that’s kind of a cool place to be looking at.”
Asked which tag teams he's looking forward to wrestling alongside Kenny Omega as part of the Golden Jets, Jericho actually had a few that came to mind, including a certain former set of AEW Tag team Champions many consider to be the best in the world.
“But we’ve got a lot of stuff going on with the Golden Jets with Big Bill and Ricky Starks, and Will Hobbs and Takeshita. I’d love to have a match with FTR. That’d be great. I’ve never done a tag team match against them before. I think Jets versus FTR would be amazing. So there’s kind of a lot of matches in the chamber that you could have with Kenny and I before we decide to go to the next step.”
Should Tony Khan book the Golden Jets versus FTR, Hobbs, and Takeshita, and the current AEW World Tag Team Champions, Big Bill and Ricky Starks? Sure, but only if the tag team actually has long enough legs to make it worthwhile, which, based on how little Jericho and Omega have worked together since Full Gear, doesn't appear to be the case.
Chris Jericho comments on AEW's perceived identity crisis.
Elsewhere in his current AEW promotional tour to help get a few more eyes on Ring of Honor Final Battle, Chris Jericho stopped by WFAA, where he was asked about AEW's perceived identity crisis.
While Jericho acknowledges that everyone has their own opinions, he thinks AEW is doing just fine, and hopes fans continue to enjoy the show.
“People's opinions are opinions, especially on social media, when everybody is going to say what they think, with no consequences, and mostly negativity,” Chris Jericho said via Fightful. “I think our shows have been great, the matches have been great, and we've done a great job of balancing the storylines along with these amazing matches. The most important thing we've been doing is building stars. I'm sure people on the Dallas Cowboys or people making movies or if you're in a band. It's like being a KISS fan, KISS fans hate everything, but they still buy everything. I find a lot of wrestling fans are like that too. They hate everything. If you listen to public opinion online, I should be shot and killed and never show my face on wrestling again because I'm the worst possible thing that could ever happen to the business, me still being in existence. Either you believe that or you don't, and I don't. I don't think the majority of people do either, but people are still going to say that. It's your opinion. I never worry about people that don't like what we do because you can't convince them, they just don't like it, and that's fine. It's your opinion. I worry about the people that do like our show and worry about making new fans of our show, that's the most important thing.”
Does AEW actually have an identity crisis? Maybe it did, but with the Continental Classic now in full swing, it seems like fans have rallied around a show built to showcase incredible matches between some of the best performers in the world today. Fingers crossed Tony Khan is able to keep that going into the future, as this new feel is clearly resonating with fans around the world.