When Action Andretti beat Chris Jericho in a “tune-up” match on AEW Dynamite, it was a big deal. The win instantly made Andretti a star, secured him an AEW contract, and afforded him opportunities to appear on podcasts like AEW Unrestricted, the official podcast of the company.
And as for Jericho? Well, this loss thrust him into a now-long-running feud with Ricky Starks that is set to potentially conclude at Revolution, where the JAS, but not Andretti, are banned from ringside.
Theoretically, Jericho and Andretti shouldn't like each other, as they've exclusively been feuding on the opposite side of the “vs.” symbol but as it turns out, that isn't the case. No, on his aforementioned appearance on Unrestricted, Andretti actually had plenty of kind things to say about “The Ocho” and how he effectively supercharged his professional career.
“For Chris to put me in that situation and just know that he was gonna help make me into a star in a way, he doesn’t have to do that for anybody,” Andretti said via WrestleZone. “He’s Chris Jericho, he definitely has a leadership in AEW to help make new stars, and he has in the past. I’m very grateful that he even saw something in me to even think about giving me that chance. And help make me into a star.”
“The fact that he even saw my match with QT [Marhsall] and was just in the back watching because he could be in the back just watching and then keep it pushing because he’s a busy man. He’s got a lot of stuff to do. He doesn’t need to take the time to watch an AEW Dark match backstage. So the fact that he even took time to watch my match and see some potential in me, that was crazy at that. And then the fact that he wants to take me under his wing in a way and had me wrestle him one on one and put me over, and he knew what he was doing in that situation.”
“He knew he saw potential in me. He knew that he could get a buzz going for me and make a name for me. So the fact that he did that, it shows how selfless he is. And it shows how good of a guy Chris really is. And that he really cares about what’s best for AEW and wants to help AEW grow and showcase brand-new talent like myself coming in and help put some shine on our names. So I’m very grateful for what Chris has done, and I’m sure he’s going to do more of that in AEW over the years.”
Did Jericho see so much in Andretti that he's secretly been working with him all along, leading to the 26-year-old Philadelphia product secretly joining the JAS and playing a part in the finish at Revolution – my personal theory? Or will Andretti's story with Jericho end another way, maybe with a second win over “Le Champion?” Fans will find out soon enough.
Action Andretti almost beat Chris Jericho under a very different moniker.
Elsewhere in his interview with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards, Andretti discussed how he came upon his current in-ring moniker and let it slip that before he was “Action Andretti,” he had some, um, interesting nicknames.
“With my style of wrestling, I bring a lot of action,” Andretti explained via Wrestling Inc. “I like the double A sequence that the name has. Andretti is just a name I kind of came up with. And with the help of my coaches at wrestling school, we kind of just … I had a bunch of names I was going to go by before.”
Intrigued, Shiavone and Edwards pressed Andretti on the issue and issued a pair of nicknames that, thankfully, he doesn't currently use.
“We used to have birthday party matches at my wrestling school … that's what you do before you get on actual wrestling shows,” Andretti said. “I worked one of those birthday party matches one day, and my coach was like ‘You're going to be called The Singlet.'” But that wasn't the only one. “And I ran with The Singlet for like, two months probably,” he continued. “And then another one that I had was Tyler Takeoff. I went as Tyler Takeoff for a little bit. I thought I'd take off, put a little T thing here or whatever. It was bad. It was bad.”
Jeez, Tyler Takeoff is, like, a million times worse than Action Andretti, even if both are alliterations. Whether he stands with or against Jericho moving forward, it's better to see that man on the screen than “The Singlet.”
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